A 25-year-old lady, Temitope, and her unnamed boyfriend have been arrested by operatives of the Lagos Police Command over an attempt to strangle to death an 80-year-old man inside the Alaketu of Ketu’s palace.
The incident that occurred on Wednesday night in the palace saw the Eluku of Ketuland, Pa Bello, escaping death by the whiskers as he battled with the female assailant who had tied an electric wire round the neck of the 80-year-old man while he was asleep.
Chief Bello, who was visibly in pain, had bandage round his neck as at the time of narrating his near death ordeal, added that the kingship tussle in Ketu Epe land must have been the likely reason that prompted the attempt on his life as aggrieved parties are out to cause chaos.
Chief Lateef Bello said he was lying on the bed at around 9pm just a few minutes after his daughter left him.for her own residence when someone entered the room and sat on the bed.
“My daughter had just helped me to warm the soup and she left for her residence. I was lying on the bed when someone entered, sat on the bed, grabbed my neck and put wire around my neck. I began to struggle with the wire with my two hands and at the same time began to shout for help.
“All the while there was no light and in the compound the generator was being used to pump water. Luckily for me, the generator went off and people outside were able to hear my cry for help.”
Meanwhile, one of the people who came to the rescue of the old man, a resident of the Palace, Prince Rasheed Adesanya, said: “All the time that we are choosing a new king, first we would go to court. Currently there is a case in the court between Prince Babajide Adekoya Adefowora and Akeem Oluwo, Agbo Ketu.
“The town has chosen Prince Babajide Adekoya Adefowora but Akeem was not satisfied. It is only one ruling house that is entitled to the Alaketu’s throne in Ketuland. That is the Esokeji Ateshimara’s ruling house. We have not heard it in the history of Ketuland that the Adetonas ascended the stool.
“On what happened on Tuesday, I was at the backyard and the generator was on and later went in to receive a call. I rushed out when the generator suddenly stopped to check what went wrong when I heard Eleku’s cry for help.
“I rushed to his room, as I entered, I perceived the odour of cigarettes. I met Chief Bello on the floor with wire tied around his neck, Baba was crying that they wanted to ‘kill me, they wanted to kill me.'”
In his own response, the Oba-Elect, Prince Babajide Adekoya Adefowora, said he was calling all well-meaning Nigerians to come to their aid and assist the people of the Alaketu Epe from challengew they t are facing since the demise of his father.
He said, “I am calling for help. Please help me. Please, I need your help. This old man nearly died. They nearly killed him. He was bleeding from his mouth. We needed to rush him to the hospital. Please help me. I need your help. Nigerians I need your help.”
