The traditional ruler of Iraye Com­munity in the Sagamu Local Area of Ogun State, Oba Mosudi Owodi­na, has cried out over the activities of armed hoodlums who invaded the town and stole the ancestral crown and traditional staff of office of the town .

The royal father who claimed to have been chased away from the town by armed hoodlums narrated how he narrowly escaped death from armed hoodlums.

He however said that policemen from the Nigeria Police Force Head­quarters in Abuja have recovered the crown and the staff of office.

Oba Owodina also said that two persons identified as Saheed Olatuniji and Lukmon in whose possession, the crown and staff of office were recov­ered have been arrested and taken to Abuja for further investigations.

The monarch, however, appealed to the Ogun State Government and the state Police Commissioner to save them from a popular Ikorodu land grabber, who was accused of chasing away the residents of the community.

Oba Owodina said, “Since I was crowned on the 27th of August 2016, there had been crisis. These hoodlums were trying to stop the installation but policemen were on ground to ensure the success of the installation. Any­time I visited the town, they pelted me with stones and sachet water.

“I had to run to Sagamu and only came to Iraye once in a while. Habeeb Kalejaiye invited the land grabber from Ikorodu to attack us. They van­dalised my palace and turned the palace to the kitchen, where they kill stolen goats and chickens. People have escaped from the land.”

The monarch also said, “I cannot go into the town without first going to the police station to be given security details. These hoodlums are always armed. They have taken over the pal­ace. Everybody is afraid of them.”

“They vandalised the palace and riddled the whole place with bullets. They acted like terrorists anytime they invaded the town.”

The youth leader Iraye Community, Mr. Ganiu Odugbesan, said the crisis in the village started since 2013.

“We were having a youths meeting when policemen came from Abuja and arrested six of them. Since then hoodlums have been invading their village on daily basis through one Sir K. Oluwo in Ikorodu, a suspected land grabber. Three years after, our Mon­arch was installed by the Ogun State government after the demise of the late Oba.

It was during the reign of the new monarch that Nigeria National Petro­leum Cooperation (NNPC) built health centre, and the member, Ogun State House of Assembly representing our area also built school for us and the blocks and cement we wanted to use for the police station in the village were stolen by Sir K boys.

“In 2017, the day the health centre was inaugurated after the officials of the NNPC had gone, Sir K boys chased our away King away from the village and removed his car number plate and warned him never to return to the village. It was when the trouble was becoming much for us that we ran to Otunba Sunny Erepe to assist us; he was the one who petitioned the In­spector General of Police through his lawyer in order for the Oba to reclaim his palace, for about a year and a half there is peace in the village.” (Daily Independent)