THE palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, has been gutted by fire.
The inferno destroyed about 21 rooms in the ancient palace.
According to the Media Assistant to the monarch, Alhaji Azeez Fehintola, the fire started around 6a.m. yesterday and raged uncontrollably before the arrival of fire fighters one hour later.
He said: “Immediately I got here (palace) and saw the extent of the damage done to the palace by this early morning conflagration, I could not but break down into tears.
“The fire, which resulted from a power surge, started around 6 a.m. and was contained after about three hours.
”The fire-fighters came at some minutes past 7a.m. and battled it till it was finally put out.
Every part of the affected apartments was completely razed.
It was a really sad day for the ayabas (wives of the Oba) because many of their property were destroyed.
“They keep their monies in the palace. Plasma television, jewellery, clothes, bags and many other valuables yet to be ascertained, were lost.”
Mostly affected parts were the flats of Princess Folasade (Iyaa Meta), Princess Rukayat, and Princess Abibat.
Vanguard gathered that some undisclosed amount of money was burnt.
Besides, some rooms known as Ile Ori, Ile Ifa where artifacts were kept, were also destroyed.
Though no life was lost and nobody was injured, the queens wore forlorn looks.
The monarch did not grant any interview as he was not in the mood to entertain any questions.
He remained indoors and refused to show up.
No comments:
Post a Comment