NAIJA NEWS
In a chilling development, investigations have revealed that the gruesome murder of the Olukoro of Koro, Oba Olusegun Aremu-Cole, in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, was meticulously planned in a beer parlour within the town.
The monarch, a retired senior military officer, was brutally shot dead in his palace on Thursday night by assailants who also kidnapped his wife and two locals residing near the royal residence.
Oba Aremu-Cole, who ascended the throne in 2017, would have turned 66 this year. Born in 1958, his reign brought significant impact to the community until this tragic incident cut it short.
The attack not only claimed the life of the monarch but also instilled fear and sorrow in the hearts of the townspeople.
A reliable source from Koro, preferring to remain anonymous, disclosed to Saturday PUNCH that the murderers made their way into the town on Thursday evening and began their sinister plot by blending in at a popular local beer parlour.
It was in this unsuspecting venue that they finalized their plans for the attack, under the guise of regular patrons taking drinks.
Further revelations indicated that the assailants manipulated a salesgirl at the pub, using her to guide them to the monarch’s palace, which was strategically located within the area.
The source stated, “After spending several hours at the relaxation centre and being good customers, they now asked the salesgirl to lead them to the palace to pay obeisance to the monarch and discuss the progress of the town.
“The girl ignorantly led the three men to the palace to see the monarch and went back to continue her work at the joint.”
Another native of Koro, Funsho Akorede, said the monarch had just returned from a journey and was relaxing when the gunmen attacked him.
He added that following the killing, a team of soldiers had been dispatched to comb forests in Kwara and neighbouring Kogi and Ekiti states to smoke out the assailants.
The immediate junior brother to the monarch, Mr Adelaja Aremu, on Friday, narrated how gunmen killed the Oba.
Adelaja, who spoke in a telephone interview with Punch, noted that the assailants shot his brother dead for refusing to follow their orders to stand up and come with them.
He said, “I am his immediate younger brother and I live very close to the village. Immediately gunshots were heard in the palace, I was contacted and told the gunshots.
“They (gunmen) came into the palace and met him (the monarch) and asked him to stand up. They wanted to abduct him. He refused to get up, saying that nobody could command him like that. He refused to take orders from unknown people, so they shot in the air to scare him but he wasn’t afraid.”
“Of course, they knew that they met a stubborn person and that was how they shot him. This was what the houseboy told us. He (houseboy) bolted out of the palace through the back door when my brother was shot, but he saw all that transpired.”
When asked if the family had been contacted over the abduction of the monarch’s wife and the two other abductees, Adelaja stated, “The other two who were kidnapped are our neighbours because I live in the palace too anytime I am around. I can’t disclose whether or not the kidnappers have contacted anyone, but we hope that the police will do their work.”
Adelaja disclosed that this was not the first time bandits had terrorised residents of the town.
He added, “For me, I think it’s the peculiar nature of our location. I try to farm at home and these bandits have been raiding our community and I have been calling the attention of the authorities to my encounters with them.
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