Emure-Ekiti in turmoil as youths stone traditional ruler, order him out of town
- Written by Sam Nwaoko - Ado Ekiti
- Friday, 22 February 2013 04:33
- Nigerian Tribune
The protesting youths were said to have scattered the day’s market, made bonfires on the roads and took their protest to the palace of their traditional ruler, the Elemure, Oba Emmanuel Adebowale Adebayo, a retired Commissioner of Police.
The youths were said to have demanded that Oba Adebayo himself addressed them on what the traditional ruler and his chiefs were doing on what they said was unprecedented death of youths of the community.
They were alleged to have been angered by the address of Oba Adebayo and pelted him with sachets of water, stones and other handy objects, and demanded that he vacated the palace.
Chiefs of the community were said to have found escape routes from the palace when the situation got out of hand, with a prince of the community informing the Nigerian Tribune that “I had to find my way out of the town through bush paths to nearby Ise-Ekiti community before I got a vehicle that ferried me to Ado Ekiti.”
They were said to have also rejected the king’s entreaties that something would be done on the development, with the sources describing the traditional ruler as “a good Christian and lover of peace and his town.”
The protesting young people were said to have listed several accidents that had taken the lives of young people of the town through motorcycle and sundry accidents, claiming that in the last two weeks, about 12 youths, who are indigenes of the community had died via road accidents.
Confirming the development, the Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti State police command, Mr Victor Babayemi, said the incident “has been brought under control,” adding that “the police has restored normalcy in the town by preventing the escalation of the crisis.”
