‘It Was A War Zone’ – Ekiti Monarch Recounts Ordeal, Reveals How Gunmen Killed Colleagues
The circumstances of the death of two Ekiti traditional rulers after a gunmen attack last Monday has been narrated by the Alara of Ara in the Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, who managed to escape from the assailants.
The murdered monarchs, Onimojo of Imojo Ekiti in Oye LG and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti in Ajoni, Ikole Local Government of Ekiti State, alongside Fatoba, were attacked by the gunmen while returning from a meeting.
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 seen by Punch correspondent, Fatoba stated that the community had sought permission from the state police to tackle herders who have been attacking the communities.
Fatoba stated, “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 who stated that he was busy reading something on his phone while they were in motion, said the vehicle had stopped suddenly.
“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.
On how he managed to escape from the scene, the monarch said, “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 a weapon but he used the door to protect himself “so it was the door that was hit.”
“It was a war zone,” he added.
The monarch 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.
On 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.”
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 was 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.”
Kazeem Badmus is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience. A professional in journalism and media writing, Kazeem prioritses accuracy and factual reportage of issues. He is also a dexterous finder of the truth with conscious delivery of unbiased and development oriented stories.
