- Police arraign 20-year-old barber over incident
There was pandemonium penultimate Friday night in Okinni, Osun State, when some indigenes of the town attacked the palace of the Olokinni of Okinni, Oba Akadiri Okanola, firing gunshots at the building to register their grievances against the traditional ruler.
In the ensuing melee, Oba Okanola, his family members and courtiers, who were holed up inside the palace, only escaped death by the skin of their teeth.
Trouble had started for the monarch on Friday, July 29, when some youths of the town, wielding guns and machetes, stormed the palace at about 10:00pm, shooting sporadically.
An eye witness, who is an indigene of the town, alleged that the rampaging youths also damaged the windows of the palace in their attempt to forcibly gain entry into the monarch’s court.
The monarch, the royal family and the palace officials, who were caught unawares, were thrown into panic when the youths of the town unleashed terror on the palace that night.
Oba Okanola locked himself, his wife and children in his bedroom, while his courtiers, too, scampered to safety and took refuge in other parts of the palace.
Other residents around the palace also deserted their homes and hid in the bush as the rampaging youths kept on firing gunshots at the palace.
“It was as if the town was at war with the heavy sound of gunshots everywhere. People ran helter-skelter to escape being hit by stray bullets. The Oba, his family members and palace officials, who were already preparing to go to bed when the palace was attacked, did not even know what to do, at first.
“It was as if the whole town was under siege by a foreign power. It was a harrowing experience for us all,” the witness said.
Oba Okanola later succeeded in getting across to the police and a team of operatives was sent to the palace. The policemen, however, over-powered the assailants and restored calm in the town. 
Our correspondent gathered that a court decision over a chieftaincy suit on the Olokinni stool resulted in the violence visited on the monarch and his family, who are currently occupying the Okinni palace.
A High court sitting in Osogbo, the state capital, had, earlier that day, ruled on an application in favour of Oba Akidiri.
The application brought by a member of the monarch’s family, simply identified as Lele, had asked the court to disallow the appropriate authorities from recognising Oba Akadiri, issuing him the instrument of office and from making him a part 2 traditional ruler.
The court had struck out the application for lack of merit.
Angered by this development, the rampaging youths allegedly waited till dusk, mobilised themselves and stormed the king’s palace with guns and machetes, probably to eject him and his family from the building.
Meanwhile, the police in the state, on Thursday, last week, arraigned 20-year-old Ridwan Azeez before an Osogbo Magistrate’s court for attacking the monarch’s palace.
Azeez, a barber and an indigene of Okinni and others said to be at large, were said to have committed the offence on July 29, 2016 at about 10:00pm at the palace of the Olokinni.
The charge sheet obtained by our correspondent reads in part, “That you, Ridwan Azeez and others now at large, on the 29th of July, 2016 at 10:00pm at Olokini’s palace, Okinni, in the Osogbo Magisterial District did threaten the life of Oba Akadiri Okanola by shooting gun at the palace against Oba Akadiri Okanola and his family members in the palace.
“That you, Ridwan Azeez and others at large, at the same time, place and in the aforementioned magisterial district, did maliciously damage aluminium glass windows, value yet unknown.”
Police prosecutor, Inspector Taiwo Adegoke, informed the court that the accused has committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Sections 86 and 451 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, volume II, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2003.
Azeez pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge and his counsel, Najite Okobe, applied for his bail.
The defence counsel told the court that Azeez was presumed innocent of the crime until the prosecution otherwise proved otherwise beyond reasonable.
The presiding Magistrate, Fatimoh Sodamade, granted the accused bail in the sum of N200,000 with one surety in the like amount.
The case was adjourned to September 14, 2016 for hearing.
Azeez could not meet his bail condition and was taken to police custody.
