The immediate family of the late Onise of Odo Oro community in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Oba Gbadebo Ibiloye Ogunsakin, who was stabbed to death last Monday, has denied reports that the suspected killer has a mental illness.

Speaking with the TribuneOnline on Thursday, a daughter of the slain monarch, Mrs Taiwo Daramola, said they were positive that the person arrested by the police in connection with the killing was allegedly the culprit, saying “witnesses and people of the community knew he was the one.”

Mrs Daramola said: “That he is insane is far from the truth. Although we were not there when it happened, eyewitnesses told us everything. He stabbed my father scientifically; he went for his heart, where he knew he could not recover. A mad person cannot reasonably do that. My father was 80 years old, crowned 30 years ago.”

“This person had been in the palace earlier that day. He was chased away only for him to go and lay an ambush for Kabiyesi. Our father was coming from a prayer meeting when he attacked him. A little boy was there, and had struggled with him and couldn’t do much. There was nobody else passing around the time to help.

“The person is not insane. We believe that they cooked up the story of insanity of the suspect to divert the attention of the public from what really happened. It was a planned work and we believe that they already had their plan.”

She claimed that when she got to Odo Oro, “we found that everybody in the town knows this suspect and they know that he is not an insane person.

“Immediately after he perpetrated this act, he escaped to Ado Ekiti and, imagine the distance between Odo Oro and Ado Ekiti. He voted in the last governorship election; he has a farm and he runs a home. He is not married yet, and we believe that this is because he is a young man. He was arrested in Ado Ekiti.”

She explained that the suspect was not a member of their royal family, saying “this suspect is not a member of our family. He is a member of another branch of the Odo Oro royal father.”

On what they suspected might have led to the action, Mrs Daramola said “we believe that Kabiyesi being a Christian and his refusal to return to idol worship, would be our thought. He told those who approached him that he could not go back to idol worship and we feel that was the only issue on ground. We do not know of any issue he had with members of his Traditional Council.”

She announced that he had been buried on Wednesday, pointing out that “he was a good Christian and a man of peace loved by all, going by their testimonies. We are allowing peace to reign.”

However, she reiterated that “we want the police to do their job as expected. We are not going to keep quiet because we want to get to the root of what led to the death of our father in such circumstances and those who caused his death.

“The person arrested by the police is the culprit because he didn’t do it discreetly. We are positive he did it because there were witnesses and he was arrested with the knife. To us, it was a premeditated action.”

Public Relations of the Ekiti State Police command, Mr Caleb Ikechukwu, had announced on Tuesday that a suspect he gave his name as Stephen Ademola Omoniyi, was arrested in Ado Ekiti, in connection with the murder and that investigation were still ongoing.

•Sourced from a Tribune report

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