The suspect who allegedly stabbed the traditional ruler of Odo Oro Ekiti, Oba Gbadebo Ogunsakin, to death, on Friday confessed to the crime, saying he carried out the act to reclaim the throne.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 40-year-old Omonoyi Ademola, who was said to be mentally unstable before the crime, said he didn’t envisage that the Oba would die.
Omoniyi, who looked unkempt and remorseless, shocked journalists with his eloquence and good command of the English grammar when he was paraded by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bello Muhammed, along with 26 other suspects.
He claimed that the late Oba attacked him first when he visited the palace to pass important information to him.
Omoniyi claimed that he was told by the spirits and his own family that it was the turn of his clan to reign over the community; and that, based on this information, he headed to the palace on the day of the murder.
“I didn’t go to the palace with the intention of killing the monarch,” he said; explaining that it was when the Oba heard of the message he brought that he (Oba) attacked him (Omoniyi), claiming that he did not know that the monarch would die as a result of his retaliation.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Police, Bello Muhammed, had told journalists that he did not believe that Omoniyi was insane, going by his conduct and actions so far.
According to him, it is illogical to think that a man said to be mad would kill an Oba with a knife and choose to escape into the bush and later travelled down to Ado Ekiti where he was arrested.
(NAN)