The Aareonakakanfo of Yorubaland, Aare Gani Adams, has asked the police to arrest of arsonists responsible for the fire at one of the houses of Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho.
This is as the Oyo State Police Command said it was trailing the hoodlums who committed the act.
The one-story building, situated in Ibadan, the state capital, was gutted by fire around 3am on Tuesday, damaging property that Igboho put at N50m.
Igboho has been trending lately for issuing notice to quit to killer herdsmen in Oyo State.
Meanwhile, the police said it received reports that hoodlums loaded in a bus and taxi were responsible for the arson.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Olugbenga Fadeyi, in a statement said the arsonists reportedly shot into the air as they set fire to the house.
The police statement reads partly, “The mini sitting room got burnt in the process.
“Immediately the DPO Sanyo got wind of the incident, he contacted fire service while he also went to the scene. The fire was eventually put out. Investigation has commenced into the incident while the police is on the trail of the hoodlums.”
In the same vein, the Oyo State Fire and Safety Services in a statement by the agency’s Director of Operations, Mr Adeleke Ismail, said the fire incident affected a set of sofa, a Plasma Television, an air conditioner and other items at the waiting room of the building.
“Information made available to our agency indicated that the fire was as a result of arson, as an individual, who described himself as Mr. Wale and claimed to be an occupant of the building, informed our crew that there were sporadic gunshots in the area, after which fire broke out in the affected house,” the statement said.
But Aare Gani Adams, in a statement on Tuesday, said failure to investigate the fire outbreak at Igboho’s house could heat up the polity.
Adams, who condemned those behind the fire incident, said “the fire outbreak is an attempt to frustrate the young man.”
He said, “It is unfortunate that some powerful individuals in the South-West are not happy with what is happening in the region.
“The ugly incident speaks volumes of the spate of insecurity across the country. The government is in the best position to investigate the circumstances surrounding the ugly incident so that they will not overheat the polity.”
He also commended the South-West governors for raising their voices against night and under-aged grazing across the region.