This is certainly not the best of times for Iworoko Ekiti, a community on the outskirts of Ekiti State capital, Ado Ekiti, after the twin tragedy of 15 persons who perished in a truck crash penultimate Saturday night, and sudden passing on of her monarch, Oba Aladejana.
The aged monarch was said to have been very sick prior to his death at a hospital in Ado Ekiti.
Some residents claimed that domestic pets and other animals seen in public were slaughtered in the spirit of the mourning of the departed king.
Strange patterns decipherable only to the indigenes of the town were drawn on the main road, leading to the palace of the deceased monarch, just as ritual objects were seen across royal houses and shrines in the town.
Road blocks were seen mounted in parts of the main road.
Speaking on the passage of Oba Aladejana, one of the natives, Mr. Ganiu Tijani, said: “Oba Michael Aladejana was a very good king to us in this community. But we have accepted all that have happened; our monarch was almost 90 years old. He was a very old man.
“Human movement has been restricted since the monarch passed on. Women particularly and even some men cannot go to some areas around the palace. You must belong to a lineage of the town before you can go to such areas”.
Asked what kind of man the late monarch was, another native, Abiodun Omoye, said: “Our late kabiyesi was a very good man. His reign was very good for every one of us.
“All the rituals that are ongoing are necessary so that we can have peace in the town. These are prescriptions of our traditions which have to be done for everyone to be in good health and have peace of mind”.
Many in the town believed that the monarch may have had his health problem aggravated by the truck tragedy but were thankful that the situation could have been worse if students of Ekiti State University, who mostly live in Iworoko because of the proximity of the town to the institution, were in session.
Strike
The students were home because of the ongoing strike action by the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) which shut down the institution. The natives believed the truck accident which claimed 15 lives, according to the authorities, could have been of monumental dimension as the death toll could have been higher if the students had been in school.
The market into which the truck carrying campaign rice for a politician in Ondo State crashed, killing traders, is, according to natives, mostly patronised by the university students.
Bewildered and embittered sympathisers had gathered at the scene of the accident, penultimate Sunday morning, wailing while others were cursing profusely as, according to them, such tragedy had never happened in the community and especially coming early in the New Year.
Death
Six days after, Oba Aladejana passed on.
“Our monarch was rushed to hospital after the accident. Though, he had been having health issue before, that incident really made the situation worse for him”, a prominent indigene told journalists.
“When the news got to the town, he (monarch) was said to have felt so devastated and the family had to rush him to hospital early on Sunday.
“The sickness was said to have improved on Monday before it relapsed on Tuesday causing his death”.
An angry mob chased away a towing truck of Ekiti State Transport Corporation which had been deployed to the accident scene to clear the wreckage and free the road for vehicular movement at about 8am on Sunday, in protest against what the natives perceived as the slow rescue of victims the previous night. They stoned the vehicle, forcing the driver to run away with his vehicle.
The mob also attempted to chase away the advance security team of the deputy governor who later visited the town to commiserate with the people.
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