Many inhabitants of Esa-Oke in Osun State, as well as seven police officers, were injured on Monday when unknown gunmen fired guns at them.
While some residents claimed that those who attacked the community dressed in black and arrived in a bus, others who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being targeted stated that the attackers were hoodlums hired by the parties in dispute over the appointment of a monarch for Ido Ajegunle.
Yemisi Opalola, the state police public relations officer, told The PUNCH that the incident occurred as police officers were on their way to Esa Oke to respond to a distress call.
Opalola stated, “Seven police officers were shot. One of them got wounded on the neck. They were heading to Esa Oke when they came across a barrier. They alighted and were dismantling the barricade when other people opened fire on them. One of them got wounded on the neck. But we’ve sent more men to the region.”
Last Wednesday, the Osun State Government nominated Prince Timileyin Oluyemi Ajayi, a United Kingdom-based information telecommunications expert, as Ido Ayegunle’s Olojudo.
Residents of Esa-Oke, who had claimed Ido Ajegunle was a village under Esa Oke’s Owamiran, Oba Adeyemi Adediran, protested his appointment shortly after it was made public, claiming the newly anointed royal father is an Ilesa native.
Tensions over the matter rose last Friday, when Esa Oke indigenes staged a peaceful protest against Atayi’s nomination.
However, the situation worsened on Monday, when several people aboard a bus bound for the Esa Oke Police Divisional Office allegedly shot at some neighbors.
According to video footage gathered from residents, five people were bathed in blood after allegedly being shot by the perpetrators.
A resident, who preferred to be named as Oladele, claimed the shooting was not unrelated to Ajayi’s appointment against the preferences of Esa Oke indigenes. “Those who shot individuals are suspected hoodlums on a bus.
On Monday, they opened fire on victims as they were on their way to the Esa Oke Police Divisional Headquarters.
“The shooting is not unconnected to the designation of an Ilesa indigene as the new monarch for Ido Ayegunle, a hamlet under Esa Oke.
Esa Oke indigenes staged a protest after the state administration announced the declaration,” Oladele stated.
When called, Yusuf Idowu, Osun spokesperson for the Amotekun Corps, and Kehinde Adeleke, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, both stated that their organizations had sent personnel to the scene.