Again, hoodlums set palace ablaze in Osun

Some hoodlums on Thursday evening set ablaze the palace of Aree of Iree land in the Boripe local government area of Osun State.

Sources in the area said the palace was set on fire around 7 p.m. after a group of people staged a protest against the arrest of a community chief, Soliu Atoyebi, by officials of the State Security Service.

The incident occurred barely eight days after some arsonists had also burnt a section of the palace of Akirun of Ikirun land.

There has been tension in Ikirun and Iree since the appointment and approval of their monarchs by the immediate past administration of former governor Gboyega Oyetola.

Some ruling houses and groups had rejected the selection of Ponle Ademola as the Aree of Iree land and Yinusa Akadiri as the Akirun of Ikirun, alleging that the immediate past administration imposed the monarchs on them.

Earlier in the week, Governor Ademola Adeleke nullified the appointments of the two monarchs and one other, Gboyega Famodun, the Owa of Igbajo.

The governor ordered the palaces shut down immediately and taken over by security agencies pending a review of the process that elevated them as monarchs.

The mob that razed the palace in Ire was said to have gone violent when none of the palace officials agreed to address them over the whereabouts of the arrested chief.

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After the palace was razed, the hoodlums blocked the major roads that led to the town and set bonfires on the roads.

Business owners in the town were said to have immediately locked up their shops.

Ibraheem Adekunle, spokesperson for the Fire Service in Osun State, confirmed the incident.

Mr Adekunle said he heard about the incident but no official report was made.

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“I heard it too, but we weren’t informed officially. We heard it as a rumour because no one informed us officially or a distressed caller visiting our station,” he said.

Yemisi Opalola, the police spokesperson in the state, was not reachable on phone.