Seven police operatives and many residents of Esa-Oke in Osun State have been injured when shots were fired at them by some yet-to-be-identified assailants.
The state police public relations officer, Yemisi Opalola, confirmed it during a chat with newsmen this Monday saying that the police operatives were on their way to Esa Oke in response to a distress call when the incident happened.
Opalola said, “Seven police officers were shot. One of them was hit in the neck. They were going to Esa Oke when they ran into a barricade. They alighted and were removing the barricade when some people started firing at them. One of them was hit in the neck. But we have deployed more men to the area.”
Newsmen reported that residents said those who attacked the community dressed in black attire and came in a bus, while some others noted that the attackers were hoodlums who were hired by the parties in disagreement over the appointment of a monarch for Ido Ajegunle.
Recall that Osun State Government appointed a United Kingdom-based information telecommunication expert, Timileyin Ajayi, as the Olojudo of Ido Ayegunle last Wednesday.
Shortly after the announcement of his appointment, residents of Esa-Oke, who had claimed Ido Ajegunle was a village under Owamiran of Esa Oke, Adeyemi Adediran, staged a protest against it, saying that the newly appointed royal father is an indigene of Ilesa.
Accordingly, the tension escalated last Friday when Esa Oke indigenes staged a peace protest against Atayi’s appointment.
However, the situation got worse this Monday, when some people travelling in a bus heading towards the Esa Oke Police Divisional office reportedly shot at some residents.
The Osun spokespersons for the Amotekun Corps, Yusuf Idowu, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Kehinde Adeleke, were contacted and they both said their organisations had deployed operatives to the scene of the incident.