Monarch, 4 aides burnt to ashes

Gunmen have assassinated the traditional ruler of Agodo village in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Ayinde Odetola and four of his aides.

It was gathered that the tragedy was the second of such acts that happened in the community in the last few months.

It was gathered that Oba Odetola and his four aides were assassinated, and burnt to ashes as soon as they entered the town around 11am on Monday 24th January.

A reliable source who spoke with press alleged that crisis began in the community as soon as late Ìba Odetola, who was from Ake dynasty, was elected as the traditional ruler of the community, but the Owu people insisted that anybody from Ake cannot be their king.

Confirming the incident, one of the late monarch’s sisters, Mrs Adenike Akintade lamented the heartless killing, of the traditional ruler and his aides, adding that the same people recently killed a younger brother of the late monarch.

She said: “I had just been discharged from hospital early this morning, only to start mourning the brutal assassination of my brother.

“Kabiesi called me on Saturday, urging me to reduce my activities, saying stress could contribute to my illness.

“Oba Odetola lost his younger brother to the imbroglio some months ago; the young man was butchered by the so-called hoodlums. Today, Kabiesi is no more, what a world.”

Explosion rocks church

There was an explosion at the Catholic Chapel of St. John’s College, Mutum-Biyu, Gassol Local Government Area, LGA, in Taraba State on Sunday, following an attack on the community by suspected bandits.

Principal of the college Emmanuel, Ikyaan told journalists that the explosion occurred around 7:20pm on Sunday.

Ikyaan said no life was lost in the incident, but that the church building was destroyed, saying: “We thank God no life was lost, but the church has been destroyed. Ten minutes after the explosion, we started hearing gunshots in the town. The youths and some students were holding a programme in the chapel which is also used as the school hall and they had left the premises shortly before the explosion. I want to call for a thorough investigation to unravel those behind the attack and the perpetrators brought to book.”

Confirming the incident, Taraba police command spokesperson Abdullahi Usman said the explosion was caused by some gunmen who attacked the community to kidnap the owner of a petrol station.

According to him, “What happened was that some kidnappers came to kidnap the owner of one filling station in the town. Unfortunately for them, they could not achieve their mission. In the process of running to escape being trapped, they started shooting sporadically.

“It was in the process that they threw an explosive into the church to cause fear to enable them to escape. The explosive blew up and caused some damages to the building, but luckily, nobody was hurt.”

Culled from Vanguard.