Crisis Rocks Ife/Modakeke, Five Killed, Attack On Ooni’s Palace Repelled

There was palpable tension between residents of Ile-Ife and Modakeke of Osun State on Friday, following the killing of five farmers from Modakeke along Toro Road in the early hours of the day.

The five victims, all male, were found dead on the road to Toro village, where they reportedly had farms.

A community leader in Modakeke, Mr Femi Eluyinka, who confirmed the incident said some people from the town, accompanied by police operatives, evacuated the corpses.

According to Eluyinka, who said the incident had aggravated tension in Modakeke town, “Policemen operatives have arrived; tension is on the rise; five of them (deceased) were indigenes of Modakeke and they were killed this morning along Toro road. They were heading to their farm.”

He further explained that personal details of the victims would be released by the police, adding that shops and business places hurriedly shut down as panic spread across the town after the incident.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, Yemisi Opalola, said, “We heard some people were killed and the Commissioner of Police has deployed more policemen into the area.”

The remains of the victims, it was learnt, were later taken to the morgue of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife.

However, while motorcyclists that accompanied the corpses, conveyed in a police van to the morgue, were returning to Modakeke through Enuwa, Ile-Ife, sources said there was an attempt to attack Ooni’s palace.

An eyewitness said some youths from Ife who had mobilized and waited at the entrance of the palace, repelled them and arrested some of the youths, as well as some of their motorcycles.

The Osun State Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, on Friday, met some Ile-Ife chiefs, as the command intensified efforts to dispel tension caused by the killing of five Modakeke indigenes by unknown assailants.

At the meeting held in Ooni’s Palace were Obalufe of Iremo, Chief Idowu Adediwura and Lowa of Ife, Chief Adekola Adeyeye, amongst others.

After the meeting, Adeyeye, who appealed for calm, said the police had assured Ife community that the perpetrators of the crime would be apprehended and brought to book.

He said, “Osun State Commissioner of Police acted promptly. The intervention doused the tension, and the CP promised that incident of such would never happen in our community again. We call for calm as the police unravel the mystery behind the killing.

“He promised that police would ensure that those behind the incident would not go unpunished. There was an attempt to attack the palace but that was repelled. Some of the attackers were arrested and handed over to the police.”