SAD! Arsonists Burnt Monarch To Death In Osun State

Facts have emerged that the traditional ruler of Ilase-Ijesa in Obokun Local Government Council of Osun State, Oba Adesina Alobijuwon was set ablaze inside his palace.

The monarch was set ablaze on Wednesday evening by unknown people, who allegedly paid him a visit in his palace.

But his maid and her two children narrowly escaped death from the hand of the assailants, who were said to have stormed the palace of the traditional ruler, seeking to have vital discussions with him on the community.

The monarch, aged 80 was said to have lost his sight about eight years ago, making it difficult for him to escape.

Reports had it that some unidentified people visited the traditional ruler around 5pm in the evening, seeking to see him but the maid told them that the monarch was resting in his room. The assailants, who had earlier identified themselves as members of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), later resurfaced around 7pm and attacked the maid to gain entrance into the private room of the monarch.

Moments after the visitors left, there was fire outbreak, which burnt the traditional ruler and razed down the palace.

A traditional chief in the town, Chief Oluwagbemiga Oke, who spoke with reporters at the scene of the incidence claimed that the monarch had attended to five guests who came with a pink coloured Mazda car before the incident happened, adding that “from what we were told, the house got burnt shortly after the people had left.”

Also, an officer of the State Fire Service, Mr. Michael Ogundipe, ruled out the possibility of electric surge from the incident, saying that findings by his men have revealed that the case was arson.

Ogundipe who took officials of the State Government including the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Sunday Akere, Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Sikiru Ayedun and Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Mr. Amos Adekunle round the palace said there was nothing that suggested electric surge from all findings made at the scene of the incident.

A prominent indigene of the town, Chief Jumoke Ogunkeyede, explained that it took the efforts of the Osun Ambulance Services and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), before the corpse of the monarch could be taken from the burnt palace to the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, where an autopsy would be conducted on it.

He said efforts to stop the fire by men of the state Fire service at about 10.30pm on Wednesday, yielded poor result as the fire service ran out of water.

The State Police Commissioner, Mrs. Dorothy Gimba confirmed the incident through the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), saying that the commissioner has directed discrete investigation into the matter.

Daily Indepentent