Osun state police said on Thursday that no officers were involved in the shooting that claimed the life of a middle-aged man at the palace of Ikirun’s traditional ruler on Wednesday.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how a persistent dispute over the naming of Ikirun’s new land Akirun turned bloody.
Witnesses who identified the deceased as Luqman Omoola, claimed that he was shot when some people confronted security personnel at the entrance of the Akirun palace in an argument.
When the news of the incident came out, some people broke into the palace and set fire to part of it.
There has been tension in Ikirun ever since Yinusa Akadiri was installed as the city’s new monarch.
However, police said on Thursday that it was the residents who attacked the officers deployed to protect the palace.
Police spokeswoman in the state, Yemisi Opalola, in a statement she issued from Osogbo, the state capital, said a group of armed people fired at the policemen in the palace.
Ms. Opalola said that two police inspectors, Obajobi Adedokun and Raji Abiodun, were seriously injured by the armed thugs during the attack.
“The Commissioner of Police wants to discredit the news that the policemen shot people in Ikirun. The true picture of the event is that while some policemen were in the Akinrun palace to protect those who were renovating it, some armed thugs shot at the policemen deployed in the palace, wounding Inspector Obajobi Adedokun and Inspector Raji Abiodun,” he said. .
The police spokesman said the injured officers were immediately taken to hospital for treatment.
Ms Opalola said that in addition to the police inspectors, the armed thugs also injured one of the firefighters who was trying to put out the fire in a section of the palace set on fire by the thugs.
“They set the palace on fire and also attacked the fire brigade staff and injured Orunwumi Roseline and Abel Olayinka and attacked their truck while they were on their way to the palace to put out the fire.”
He warned community members to desist from fomenting disturbances.
“Therefore, the Police Commissioner charged parents and guardians to warn their wards to stop this uncivilized act of violence and follow the path of peace. He sternly warned that anyone found guilty of this wanton attack/violence will face the full wrath of the law.”
