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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
A man identified as Lukman Olatunji, was reportedly shot dead near the palace of the Akinrun of Ikirun, Oba Olalekan Akadiri, in Osun State, during a fight, on Wednesday.
It was gathered that a section of the palace was also razed by some suspected arsonists during the incident.
An elder brother of the deceased, Tajudeen Gboleru, who spoke woth newsmen, said Olatunji was shot dead when some security men were attempting to enter the Akinrun’s palace.
The palace had been under lock since Oba Akadiri was installed as the Akinrun in 2021, with dissenting voices in the town calling for a reversal of his appointment and installation.
Recall that ruling houses and aggrieved indigenes of Ikirun, including 80 traditional chiefs, had kicked against the appointment and installation of Oba Akadiri as the new monarch of the town.
The crisis rocking the town over the Akinrun stool, however, assumed another dimension on Wednesday when some people allegedly attempted to smuggle Oba Akadiri into the palace.
Speaking further on the circumstances surrounding the incident, Gboleru said: “A person trying to enter the palace had come to the area with a lot of policemen and soldiers. One of the security men must have fired the shot.”
Meanwhile, three operatives of the Osun State Fire Service were injured on their way to put out the fire at the palace of Akinrun following an attack on the premises by suspected arsonists.
The spokesperson of the service, Ibrahim Adekunle, in a short statement said those injured were rushed to the hospital for treatment, adding that the firemen were responding to a distress call from the palace, but they had to abandon their truck after they were attacked.