The Traditional ruler of Igbokoda,in the oil-rich Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, Oba Afolabi Odidiomo and few others were injured when hoodlums in their numbers invaded the town on Thursday Night.
Witnesses said the traditional ruler escaped death by the whiskers when the hoodlums invaded the home of Chief Lebi Adepiti where the monarch was having a meeting.
The assailants, it was learnt came, with cutlasses, knives, cudgels and guns and started shooting sporadically into the air. The shooting scared the residents who ran for safety. Many were said to have sustained degrees of injuries when running for safety.
It was in the processes of shooting and the attack on the house of the chief that the monarch and some of his aides were seriously injured.
It was gathered that said the driver of the monarch; some palace boys and some people at the meeting were injured while the monarch’s car was destroyed by the hoodlums.
Speaking to reporters in Akure on the hospital bed, Oba Odidiomo explained that he had earlier visited the Mahin Kingdom in the local government area with some two other traditional rulers including the Odode of Gbegunrin, Oba Philip Kalejaye and Molokun of Atijere, Ona Samuel Edema, to deliberate on a succession plan for the vacant traditional stool of Mahin Kingdom.
He said he visited Chief Adepiti’s house to brief him about the development, when the ugly incident happened.
His words “I came back to Igbokoda in the evening and visited one of the High Chiefs of the town to brief him on the development and outcome of the meeting. But hardly had I entered the room when the thugs stormed the meeting with cutlasses, knives and guns.
“They shot sporadically into the air to scare away people and I came out to meet about five of them and I called the police in the town, but before the policemen could arrive at the scene of the incident which is also a stone throw to the Nigerian Naval base in Igbokoda, the hoodlums had mobilised more men and attacked us.
“These men numbering about 20, started attacking us and rounded me after injuring others and one of them stabbed me directly at the back of my head after shooting severally, and as if this is not enough, one of them used the cudgel to hit my head at the same time and I passed out.
“They waited for about ten minutes to confirm if I was dead and the leader of the group, one of the thugs confirmed and pronounced me dead before they left the scene but not without destroying my car. “
The monarch said it took the policemen in the town some 50 minutes before getting to the scene of the incident after he made a call through to the station.
He alleged some influential personality within the town of sponsoring the attack on him saying the notorious leader of the group was shielded from facing the wrath of law many times by his sponsors.
He stated that similar attack was carried out by the same gang in 2014, when five people were killed in his palace and all effort to arrest and prosecute the leader of the gang by the law enforcement agents were blocked by some of the influential personalities in the area.
He, however, said he was revived at the State Specialist Hospital in Igbokoda before he was transferred to another hospital where he has been receiving treatment
He disclosed that two of the hoodlums have been arrested by the police in the town while the kingpin and some of his gang have fled the town.
When contacted , the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Femi Joseph, who confirmed the development, said two of the hoodlums have been arrested by men of the state command in Igbokoda.
He assured that the hoodlums would be brought to book saying normalcy has returned to the coastal community of Igbokoda after the arrest of the suspected thugs.
