INSECURITY: How Onimojo, Elesun were murdered by gunmen, says Alara of Ara Ekiti who escaped attack

*My escape not by magical power, I ran – Monarch

By KEMI KASUMU

The Alara of Ara Ekiti, a community in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, who escaped from the scene of attack that led to the death of his fellow traditional rulers on Monday January 29, 2024, has come out with an explanation as to how he was able to escape.

The royal father, along with two other monarchs from the state – Onimojo of Imojo Ekiti in Oye Local Government, Oba (Professor) Olatunde Samuel Olushola, and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti in Ajoni, Ikole Local Government, both of Ekiti State, ran into an ambushed attack staged by the gunmen while returning from a security meeting on the said date.

The other two monarchs were killed by the assailants while Fatoba was lucky to have escaped.

Narrating the ordeal to Awikonko TV Live, in a video circulated on social media late Sunday, Oba Fatoba said that the community had sought permission from the state police to tackle herders who have been attacking the communities.

Accordingto him, “We have a security committee in the local government. There are 25 communities in Ikole Local Government Area. When Fulani people started coming in to graze and do all sorts, we got permission from the police to assist them. This was about three or four years ago. I was made the chairman of the committee. One of my counterparts who was killed (Onimojo of Imojo) was the deputy and we used to go everywhere. We volunteered to do it for Yoruba Land.

“So it happened that they came to check some people’s houses between Aiyebode and Aiyedun communities. They killed someone there. Then, my deputy called to tell me that these people were back. It was on a Sunday so I told him that I would come on Monday.”

The monarch stated that while they were in motion, he was busy reading something on his phone before realising that the vehicle had stopped.

“I was reading something on my phone when I suddenly felt that the driver slammed the brakes. As we looked up, we saw guns pointed at us. If they were kidnappers, they would ask us to get down, raise our hands and so on.

“I wish I could show you my body, you would have seen the cuts,” Fatoba stated, adding that he still feels the pain from the attack.

The monarch narrated how he managed to escape from the scene, saying, “I noticed that they didn’t understand English. They were with a big machete and they had other ones too. I saw an AK-47, a pump-action gun and a locally-made one.”

The monarch recalled that as he wanted to get out of the vehicle, one of the assailants tried to hit his head with weapon but he used the door to protect himself “so it was the door that was hit,” and “It was a war zone,” he added.

He said he could hear the sound of gunshots behind him as he ran.

“People who said that I disappeared, I want them to know that it is a lie. I ran to the security guards that we put in that area because it had been a hotspot. I wanted to get to them,” he said.

He said when he got to one of the security guards, he asked him to shoot into the air but the gun jammed.

Fatoba further said that due to fear, the guards couldn’t come near them for a rescue operation.

When asked how the driver was not killed, he said, “They didn’t concentrate on the driver. He wore a shirt and had a small stature. They only collected the car key. They killed the others,” he said, ruling out notions that he and his driver escaped with the aid of spiritual power.

The monarch added, “What happened was that they first came to me. Two came out from my right side and one from the left side. They came aggressively. The moment they collected the car key from my driver, they left him. He prostrated on the floor with his hands on the ground.

“As for me, I fought my way out and they shot. I heard the gunshots. God didn’t allow the shots to hit me. By the time I looked back, my colleagues were on the ground. I don’t know how that happened. Some cars that were behind us had to reverse.

“I was reading something on my phone at the time, so the attack came as a surprise. I lost my phone but the security guard had the phone number of the monarch whose community was close by. It was the monarch who mobilised more security guards to meet us there.”

However, the Ekiti State Police Command said its operatives have arrested one suspect linked to the killing of the two traditional rulers.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 11, Lokoja, Dare Ogundare, reportedly said that the suspect, Babusa Lede, had confessed to involvement in the killing of the two monarchs, adding that efforts were on to apprehend others involved.

The Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Ahaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, had on Friday in a statement by his Media Team charged the security agencies to go after killers ofvtge monarchs “whoever they are”, saying the development was one that must be condemned by all.

The Sultan said the gut by which traditional rulers are ambushed and taken down, like life no longer matters in the land, makes perpetrators of such heinous, wicked and condemnable act unfit to remain amidst human community, if found.

Sultan Abubakar recalled the late Onimojo as an important monarch on the entourage of Attah of Aiyede, Oba AbdulMumini Adebayo Orishagbemi, when he paid him a visit in Sokoto and who was conspicously on ground to be part of his rousing reception during his return visit to Aiyede Kingdom, Ekiti State in the past.

Describing murder of the two Ekiti Obas as “extremely painful and very unfortunate”, the Sultan, who is also Chairman National Traditional Rulers Council of Nigeria, called on the Inspector General of Police and heads of other relevant security agencies in the country to go after the killers and present them before the law of the land for justice to be done.

He added that, “the police should take its anti-crime battle to these criminals now, wherever they are, whoever they are and ensure that no matter their status and stature in the society, they should not be spared and must be brought to justice, while efforts must be made to henceforth prevent repeat of such dastardly act before it happens in the future,” he said.

Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has extended his condolences to the government of Ekiti State, the Attah of Aiyede Kingdom, the immediate families of the slain Onimojo, Elesun and the entire people of their reespective towns while praying that Allah would grant them the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses.