Violence erupted in Esa-Oke, Osun State, as unidentified assailants opened fire on residents and police operatives, injuring many, including seven officers.
Eyewitnesses described the attackers as wearing black attire and arriving in a bus, while others claimed they were hired hoodlums linked to a disputed monarch appointment.
The state police public relations officer, Yemisi Opalola, disclosed this to the journalists;the police operatives were on their way to Esa Oke in response to a distress call when the incident happened.
“Seven police officers were shot. One of them was hit in the neck. They were going to Esa Oke when they ran into a barricade. They alighted and were removing the barricade when some people started firing at them. One of them was hit in the neck. But we have deployed more men to the area,” Opalola said.
Osun State Government had last Wednesday appointed a United Kingdom-based information telecommunication expert, Prince Timileyin Oluyemi Ajayi, as the Olojudo of Ido Ayegunle.
Not long after his appointment was made public, residents of Esa-Oke, who had claimed Ido Ajegunle was a village under Owamiran of Esa Oke, Oba Adeyemi Adediran, staged a protest against it, saying the newly appointed royal father is an indigene of Ilesa.
A resident, who preferred to be identified as Oladele, said the shooting was not unconnected with Ajayi’s appointment against the wishes of Esa Oke indigenes.
“Those that shot people are suspected hoodlums travelling in a bus. They were heading towards Esa Oke Police Divisional Headquarters on Monday when they fired shots at people.
“The shooting is not unconnected with the appointment of an indigene of Ilesa as the new monarch for Ido Ayegunle, a village under Esa Oke. There was a protest by Esa Oke indigenes after the state government made the announcement,” he said.
When contacted, Osun spokespersons for the Amotekun Corps, Yusuf Idowu, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Kehinde Adeleke, both said their organisations had deployed operatives to the scene of the incident.
