• Oyo govt probes shooting at monarch’s palace
From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Five yet-to-be identified gunmen invaded the palace of Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, Aje Ogungunniso I, at Popoyemoja, Ibadan, yesterday morning, rained bullets on anything in sight and left wounded people, including a former secretary to the state government and journalists in their wake.
The attack might not be unconnected with controversies trailing the statew government’s recent review of the 1959 Olubadan of Ibadanland Chieftaincy Declaration, which has now given the city 33 new kings.
The new kings are still subject to the Olubadan’s authority.
Witnesses said the gunmen came in a white Sienna Toyota space bus, with open roof and rained bullets on Olubadan’s palace.
No one died during the rampage. The staccato of gunfire did not, however, stop Olubadan’s installation of two new baales, yesterday.
The remaining two did not show up for the ceremony, it was gathered.
One of the gunmen was said to have released volleys of gunshots into the the air, via the open roof of the vehicle, while others reportedly shot through windows of the vehicle.
Those who saw the gunmen said they wore black clothes and tied red cloths around their heads and used pump action rifles and A-K47 rifles. Within five minutes of the incident, men of the joint security task force in the state, Operation Burst, arrived the palace and restored normalcy.
A chief in the Olubadan chieftaincy line and SSG, Alhaji Sharafadeen Alli, who is the current Asaaju Balogun of Ibadanland, escaped death by the whiskers as he came face-to-face with death. Alli, who had just arrived the palace, for the ceremony, was in his black Toyota Land Cruiser sports utility vehicle, with registration number LAGOS EPE 447 ER, and the vehicle was less than 15 metres away to the gate of the palace when the gunmen released volleys of gunshots which pierced the vehicle’s owner’s corner.
Asiwaju Babatunde Yusuff and Adedokun Ayobami, who were with Alli in the vehicle, at the time of the attack, said the vehicle was already less than 15 metres to the gate of the palace.
According to Yusuff, Alli escaped death because he did not sit at the owner’s corner, saying he chose to sit beside the driver at the front.
Already in the palace before the sporadic gunshots were the Osi Olubadan and former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Baamofin of Ibadanland, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin.
Ladoja and Lanlehin are vehemently against the recent review. They described the action as illegal.
The three journalists who had close shave with death were Olufemi Atoyebi of The Punch, Ademola Babalola of Thisday and Jeremiah Oke of Daily Trust.
They were approaching the entrance of the palace when the gunmen started shooting sporadically in front of the palace.
The duo said they quickly took refuge in an open drainage in front of the palace, to escape being hit by bullets. By the time the gunfire was over, they were already drenched in dirty water in the drainage. People around the palace ran helter-skelter and traders on both sides of the Popoyemoja Street hurriedly closed shops and those who have houses by the roadside also locked their doors for safety.
One of the elder sisters to Alhaja Mutiat Ladoja, Alhaja Iyabo Adeyemi, also witnessed the incident, said the gunmen broke the glasses of her black Honda Accord (Baby Boy) with registration number LAGOS GGE 690 CU. She told Daily Sun that the gunmen mistook her for Mutiat, because of their resemblance. But, she was not in the car when the vehicle was shot at, in front of the mosque which was beside the palace.
When contacted, Olubadan’s Director of Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Adeola Oloko, simply said: “The police will do their job.”
Thereafter, Ladoja described the gunmen as ‘hoodlums’ and that they could “have been engineered by some people. I don’t understand why people refuse to follow the normal procedure. If you think something is wrong, go to court…There is nobody that has exclusivity of violence. But, we normally prefer to do our things in the legal way. The courts are there. They should try to go to the court, if they feel that what Olubadan is doing is illegal.
Meanwhile, Governor Abiola Ajimobi has given marching orders to security agencies to fish out the gunmen who invaded Oba Adetunji’s palace .
The governor, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Mr. Yomi Layinka, condemned the action and vowed not to allow a group of people unleash terror in the state.
In his reaction, Balogun of Ibadanland, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin, in a telephone interview with Daily Sun, described the shooting aas uncalled for and unprecedented.
He said the incident was regrettable because if Olubadan had been outside, he might have been shot, saying: “We need to tell it to the whole world that this has never happened in Ibadan before. It is uncalled for.
Regardless, Daily Sun observed that among the nine living members of the Olubadan-in-Council, only Osi Olubadan, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, was present at the palace for the installation of the new baales.
Olakulehin, who responded to the absence of eight other members, told Daily Sun that they were not invited by the Olubadan for the programme.
He said his investigation revealed that only Ladoja and Iyalode of Ibadanland, Alhaja Aminat Abiodun, were invited for the ceremony, adding that the installation of the new baales was invalid because the council did not approve of it.
Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview described it as regrettable and added that investigation has been launched into the incident. But he did not comment on whether arrests have been made or not.
The four baales that were supposed to be installed yesterday are Sayeed Aderemi Alatise, Baale of Lagelu Aboke village in Lagelu Local Government Area; Tajudeen Oladejo Babaode, Baale of Babaode village in Ido Local Government Area; Pa Ezekiel Akinboade Ojedeji, Baale of Ojedeji Ojo Aro Town in Akinyele Local Government Area; as well as Taye Makinde Aikomo, Baale of Adigun village in Ona Ara Local Government Area.
But, only Baale of Lagelu Aboke village and Baale of Adigun village were eventually installed as two others were absent, probably based on the short notice from the palace to the invitees.
Apart from Oba Olakulehin, the seven other living members who were not at the ceremony are Oba Lekan Balogun, the Otun Olubadan; Oba Tajudeen Ajibola, the Osi Balogun of Ibadanland; Oba Eddy Oyewole, Asipa Olubadan of Ibadanland; Oba Latifu Gbadamosi Adebimpe, Ashipa Balogun of Ibadanland; Oba Abiodun Kola-Daisi, Ekerin Olubadan of Ibadanland; Oba Amidu Ajibade, the Ekarun Olubadan of Ibadanland and Oba Kolawole Adegbola, Ekarun Balogun of Ibadanland.
On his part, the former SSG, Alli, condemned the act, adding that the hoodlums took their luck too far.
Femi Atoyebi of the Punch said: “I give thanks to my creator, who saved me and my colleagues. We were so close to it, face to face with them.
Also, Ademola Babalola commented: “Black Monday in Ibadan. Another great escape by the whisker! Gunmen at palace. It can only be God. Saw death LIVE!!! This life. Job hazard. My God, thank you forever.
He vowed that the police would get to the root of the matter and the culprits would be brought to justice, saying: “I got a report from my men who were around in the area. The report was lodged at Mapo Police Station, and the report had it that some men in a Toyota Sienna bus passing by shot into the air but that there was no injury or death.”