Panic broke out in Osogbo, Osun State, on Wednesday after suspected hoodlums opened fire near the convoy of Governor Ademola Adeleke shortly after his visit to the palace of the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji.
The Osun State Police Command later said the real target of the attack was not the governor, but his nephew, Afrobeats star David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, who was travelling in the convoy alongside the governor’s children.
The incident occurred at about 3:15pm, shortly after Adeleke had received his Certificate of Return for a second term from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Osogbo and proceeded to the palace to receive the monarch’s blessings.
Trouble reportedly started as the convoy left through a private exit used by the monarch’s family, when armed men arrived in a Sienna bus through the Ita Olokan area and opened fire, damaging the palace’s main gate before security personnel pushed them back.
Police Say Cult Members Sought Access To Davido
Confirming the incident, the police command’s spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, said preliminary investigation showed that a suspected member of the Eye Confraternity, a cult group, attempted to gain access to Davido but was resisted by his security team.
“The ensuing confrontation reportedly attracted other suspected gang members in the vicinity, who temporarily blocked the entrance to the palace and obstructed the movement of the convoy of the Governor,” Ojelabi said, identifying the alleged instigator as Adebayo Taoreed, also known as “Small Rugged,” an ex-convict.
The exchange of gunfire between the assailants and the governor’s security detail lasted between 12 and 15 minutes, according to eyewitnesses, before the convoy’s path was secured.
The attackers reportedly engaged the convoy again near the Osogbo Central Mosque before fleeing towards Ita Olokan along the Osogbo-Ilesa Road.
Bystander Killed As Attackers Fled Scene
Ojelabi said a 60-year-old man, Tajudeen Yusuf, was shot dead by the fleeing suspects at Ita Olokan. He was rushed to the University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The incident caused panic across the city, with traders and residents abandoning their businesses and sporadic gunshots reportedly heard in parts of Osogbo later in the afternoon.
Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, confirmed the governor and his team were safe. “They are hoodlums, and the governor’s security repelled them. They attacked the governor’s convoy at the Ataoja’s palace but no casualties were recorded,” he said, referring to the initial exchange near the palace.
Davido rejected early reports linking the attack to his uncle’s convoy, writing on X: “Lies! It was a fight outside the palace that had nothing to do with us! The people love excellency.”
The police command has commenced a full-scale investigation and said efforts to identify, apprehend and prosecute the fleeing suspects were ongoing, days after Adeleke’s re-election was declared amid heightened political tension in the state.
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