•Oba Odidiomo Afolabi
There have been serious protest in Igbokoda community in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State over the attack on Olu of Igbokoda, Oba Odidiomo Afolabi by a community leader and his cronies.
Youths, traditionalists and women dressed half-naked protested the attack on the monarch by a community leader who is close to the seat of power in the state, reports Daily Independent.
Sources disclosed that the traditional ruler was attacked yesterday during flag-off ceremony of the 27.5k Igbokoda-Okitipupa dualisation project.
It was revealed that the monarch was attacked and injured by the community leader over sitting arrangement.
The community leader was said to be close to the seat of power in the state and this was said to have emboldened him to attack the monarch of the community that played host to the governor during the flag-off ceremony.
An eye witness account had it that the community leader brought his chair and sat in front of the traditional rulers in attendance.
When Oba Afolabi, a legal practitioner, insisted that he should move his chair away from the position, he refused and it led to fisticuffs between the duo.
The community leader in the process bit the lobe of the left ear of the monarch and was subsequently rushed to the hospital.
Sources revealed that the monarch could not attend the flag-off ceremony when Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa eventually arrived.
When calls were put through to the monarch, he neither picked nor returned his calls.
However, a source close to the palace of Olu of Igbokoda disclosed, on condition of anonymity, that the monarch was polite and courteous in his approach when he asked the community leader to move his seat away from the front of the traditional rulers.
He said the community leader attacked the monarch inflicting injuries on him before the monarch was rescued from community leader.
The source said: “The monarch only asked him to vacate the front row and to block traditional rulers view but the man was irked by the development and started insulting the man.
“The man pounced on Oba Afolabi, removed his crown, the beads and while they were struggling, he bite the ear of the monarch and was rushed to hospital with blood all over his body.
“The who is who in the state have been calling Oba Odidiomo Afolabi to beg him and appeal to him to forgive the man. Politicians, traditional rulers and government officials have been bombarding Oba Afolabi with calls.”
Today youths, traditionalists and women hit the streets of Igbokoda protesting half-naked, saying the community had committed a taboo by removing the crown of the king and his needs.
