The mood in the
riverine community of Ode-Ugbo, Ondo State was tense and gloomy
yesterday as the wife and three other family members of the deposed
king of Ugbo Kingdom, Adebanjo Mafimisebi, who were allegedly killed in
a fire, were buried. The former king’s wife, Morenike, her grandchild
and two daughters of the king, died in an early morning fire that
gutted their house at Oba-Ile, Akure on February 12, 2011. Mr.
Mafimisebi and his relatives have said that the victims were
assassinated by the king’s enemies who later set the building ablaze to
cover up the murder.
At exactly 8.45 am
on Sunday, the remains of the victims arrived Ode-Ugbo after leaving
the morgue of the State Specialist Hospital, Akure. At an
interdenominational service officiated by several religious leaders,
indigenes of the town including students, market women and fishermen
all thronged the church to pay their last respects to the departed
people. Aggrieved youth including students of tertiary institutions and
militants in the area barricaded major roads in the town and told the
government to apprehend those behind the fire.
Youth protest
For several hours, movement of vehicles was restricted just as
economic and social activities in the town were totally paralyzed.
Elderly women crawled on the ground half-naked and repeatedly cursed
those they thought were responsible for the fire. The burial rites,
which took place at Ode-Ugbo, were witnessed by members of the
Mafimisebi royal family and their supporters. Mr. Mafimisebi, who
insisted that his family was murdered by his foes, said yesterday that
the bloody footsteps of his family’s killers were found on the fence of
the house the following day. He said this convinced him that his wife
and the others were actually murdered before the house was set on fire
to cover up the act. He called on the inspector general of police and
the director-general of the State Security Services to ensure that the
perpetrators were arrested.
