Fire guts Alaafin of Oyo’s palace

By OLA AJAYI, IBADAN

The palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi has been gutted by fire. The inferno razed down about 21 rooms of the ancient palace.

According to the Media Assistant to the monarch, Alhaji Azeez Fehintola, the fire started around 6am Wednesday, raging uncontrollably before the arrival of fire fighters about an hour later.

“The fire-fighters came at some minutes past seven and battled it till it was finally put out. Every part of the affected apartments were completely razed. It was a really sad day for the Ayabas because many of their property were destroyed. They keep their monies in the palace. Plasma television sets, jeweleries, clothes, and many other valuables”, he said.

Mostly affected parts are the flats of Princess Folasade (Iyaa Meta), Princess Rukayat, and Princess Abibat.

Though, no life was lost and no injuries recorded, Vanguard gathered that some undisclosed amount of money was lost to the inferno. Besides, some rooms known as Ile Ori, Ile Ifa where artifacts and other valuables were stored were destroyed by the raging fire.

The monarch did not grant any interview as he was said not to be in the right mood to entertain any questions from reporters.

It was learnt that electrical surge from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria ignited the inferno.

The officials of the fire service said they could only confirm the incident but were not in a position to say what led to the fire outbreak.