HOW I ESCAPED OBAS' KILLERS - ALARA ARA-EKITI

 

The Alara of Ara-Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, has relived how he escaped death in the hands of kidnappers who killed two other traditional rulers he was travelling with last week.

Gunmen ambushed and killed the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin, and the Onimojo of Imojo, Oba Olatunde Olusola, on Irele road while returning from a security meeting.

According to Oba Fatoba, he was able to get away from his attackers.

The Alara denied rumours that he had vanished from the scene of the incident that had been circulated.

The elite conventional leader said that the barrage of gunshots the abductors threw at him missed his body, but he credited God for his escape.

Oba Fatoba claimed that the armed daredevils halted their car and attacked them as they were leaving a security conference in the nearby town.

He claimed that after engaging the captors in combat, he and the other two monarchs defeated them with their more powerful weapons.

As courageous leaders who gave their lives to preserve peace in their villages, Ekiti State, and Yoruba country, the traditional ruler characterised his late colleagues.

"We have about 25 communities in the Ikole-Ekiti and there was a security committee which I am the chairman of and one of the deceased monarchs was the vice chairman," stated Oba Fatoba when explaining how the tragedy happened.

Because of the extensive trees in our area, farmers have been the target of numerous attacks by herders. As a result, we asked the police for permission to act when the attacks on our people started happening too frequently, and they allowed it.

Therefore, we made the decision to step in after learning of another herder incident in which one of our people was slain between Ayebode and Ayedun. We had been to the village where the incident took place. The herders suddenly materialised as we were talking about the late Associate Professor Onimojo's plans to transfer from the Federal University of Technology in Akure (FUTA) to the Federal University at Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) on Irele Road.

About three of them aimed firearms at us, so we had no idea how many they were. As we made an effort to resist them, they started shooting at us from several directions. Even though the rounds missed their target, I recognised they were equipped with highly advanced weaponry. We escaped the area and made our way to a checkpoint manned by local hunters.

However, the local hunters were unable to move forward when they noticed the guns held by the captors. Even though I begged one of the local hunters to shoot back, his Dane gun would not fire. When I turned around, I noticed my fellow obas lying in a pool of their own blood.