The embattled Regent of Ilasa-Ekiti, Princess Jolaade Onipede, has cried out over alleged attack on Alasa Palace by suspected agents of government, claiming that some ancestral materials, including the crown of his late father, were looted during the raid.
Controversy ensued as Ekiti State government announced the appointment of Chief Mrs Comfort Dayo Idowu as substantive Regent of Ilasa Community, thereby derecognising the former occupant, Princess Onipede.
Onipede was installed on Tuesday, while her challenger was installed the next day.
But, Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Funminiyi Afuye, has denied the raid charge, saying the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is behind the allegation.
Afuye, who spoke to journalists, said PDP members were gang of liars, who would stop at nothing to portray the Kayode Fayemi-led government in bad light.
Narrating her ordeal, Onipede explained that she was about hosting some youth groups in the community when suddenly hoodlums led by certain aide of the governor and council chairman unleashed mayhem on the palace.
Although, Onipede said the assailants did not hurt her, she however described the invasion as not only unexpected, but uncivilised.
“I was about receiving some youth groups, who had come to pay homage to me in the palace around 1.pm, when suddenly we started hearing sounds of sporadic gun shots.
“I saw a government aide and chairman of our local government leading some thugs.
“They manhandled my police orderly, broke the palace window glasses and looted some ancestral materials, including the crown”, Onipede lamented.
The embattled Regent spoke of how the police orderly attached to the palace was allegedly manhandled and brutalised, as the thugs ransacked the palace, looting personal effect of the late monarch and his widows.
Onipede, currently serving in Republic of Congo as an Ambassador, is the daughter of late Oba Abel Ajibola, who reigned for 63 years and six months in the community.
She alleged further that all the photographs of her late father were destroyed, while palace was also torched during the operation.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, has warned that it may resort to self-defence if the alleged attacks on its members by suspected loyalists of the ruling party continues.
PDP State Chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe, who hinted this while briefing journalists, said the party had petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, over the incident.
The chairman said the party decided to intimate the police boss on how
PDP members were serially attacked in three different towns of Oye, Ilawe and Ikere Ekiti respectively, in the last few days while attempting to hold their meetings.
”We are not going to allow Fayemi to turn Ekiti State into battlefield, and we have let the IGP know that should the present attack continues, we may not have an option than to resort to self defence, because Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) does not have monopoly of thuggery”.
Ogundipe equally condemned the state government for dabbling into the issue of Regency of Ilasa Ekiti
”The appointment of a Regent of a town is the primary responsibility of the kingmakers and not that of government”, he declared.
He said the party was able to attach with the petition, the description and facts on how members of his party were attacked and molested in the three different towns by the agents of ACN.
Ogundipe, who condemned the state government for its inability to brook opposition in the state, said members of his party would not have any option should the attack continues, than to resort to self-help.