Residents of Agodo in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State have been gripped with fears as they desert the village following the brutal killing of their monarch, Ayinde Odetola recently.
Hoodlums Tuesday attacked, killed, and set ablaze the body of the monarch and his aide.
As a result of this development, fear has gripped the dwellers and most have vacated the community.
According to the PREMIUM TIMES reporter who visited the community, a graveyard silence was observed as one could barely see a person to speak with.
A passerby who identified himself as Raheem told our reporter that ”he cannot afford to wait to speak with our reporter for five minutes as he was only was there to pick some of his clothes and return to hiding”.
“My brother, may you not be unfortunate in your life, I cannot wait to speak to you, We can only continue to speak like this, the way people are being killed here is unexplainable and I don’t want to die.”
When asked what he thought could be the reason for the recent killings, Mr Raheem retorted “Haaa, you are asking too many questions” and he fled toward his house shouting, ”please go back, stop following me.”
Contacted, Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the command has been assuring the residents to return to their homes as “the police are on top of the situation”.
“We have been trying our best in speaking to the residents that we are on top of the matter, despite our promise of adequate protection, they have all abandoned their houses.”
When asked about the efforts made to arrest the assailants, he said, “I can assure you we will arrest them all, in fact, we are closing up on them. They have no hiding place in Ogun here. We would bring them all to book soonest.”
On Thursday, the Owu Kingdom of Egbaland, under whose jurisdiction Agodo community falls, issued a statement questioning the legitimacy of Mr Odetola’s kingship.
The Akogun Owu, Ishola Akinsipo, said the land dispute in the community had caused bad blood between Mr Odetola and people of the community.
He dismissed claims that the violence was triggered by a rift between Owu and Ake on who has authority to install a king in the village.
“The insinuation is far from the truth as on no occasion has the Agodo community, with a Baale, contested or applied to Olowu or Alake Egba for the uplifting of their Baale to coronet,” Mr Akinsipo said.