Ooni
Gunmen kill monarch’s guard
The paternal grandmother of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Mrs. Mariani Adeyemi
Ogunwusi, has died.
Aged 104, she is survived by her son, the Ooni’s father, Prince Oluropo Ogunwusi, and 12 grandchildren.
A statement by the Ooni’s Director of Media, Moses Olafare, said Madam Ogunwusi, who lost her second child, Prince Isaac Olufemi Ogunwusi, and her husband, Prince Olaobaju Joseph Ogunwusi in 1995 and 1998 respectively, died at 4:30am in her Ile-Ife home.
The statement said: “It’s noteworthy to state that the late Madam Ogunwusi fondly called Mama Alaso might have had a premonition of her death as she had in the last one month been placing the Ooni’s picture on her chest either while sleeping or sitting and always saying ‘God I thank you for being alive to witness a dream of over 40 years. I am now ready to return to you in heaven for an eternity and i will be able to tell my husband of this manifestation of our 1974 dream.’
“Her remains will be interred on April 22. May her soul rest in peace.”
There was tragedy in Ile-Ife, Osun State, yesterday when a security guard working at the private residence of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in Parakin Quarters, was killed by gunmen.
It was gathered that the guard, a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps official, was shot in front of the house while going to buy recharge card.
The deceased was said to have told his colleagues that he would soon be back before he was killed.
An eyewitness said the gunmen may have been coming from an operation before they sighted the NSCDC official and shot him repeatedly.
The bandits after killing the guard shot sporadically into the air to scare away passers-by.
The spokesperson of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Osun State, Wale Folarin, has confirmed the incident.
In a statement, he said: “The timely intervention of officers and men of the Civil Defence had prevented the “fracas from escalating”.
He said: “It is true one of our officers attached to the Ooni’s palace was shot dead by some unidentified persons in front of the Ooni’s private residence. The killers went away with his gun.
“He died at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ife. We have arrested three suspects and investigations have begun.”
The monarch’s media director, Moses Olafare, said the killers could be likened to “armed robbers because they went away with his gun after killing him”.
