By Victor Akinkuolie
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June 8, 2023, will linger forever in the minds and memory of the residents of the ancient town, Erinjiyan-Ekiti, in Ekiti West local government area of Ekiti State.
Thursday of every week used to be the day of a local market in the ancient community, according to the tradition of the town, the day is always set aside for the residents to have fun and enjoyment shortly after the market, every member of the community will return to their house and celebrate the day with local palm wine under a shed located at the centre of the town.
This very Thursday was turned to a black day and was characterised with unfortunate incident and mourning, following the death of a teenage Secondary School boy who was said to have been shot dead by a colleague in the community.
The victim, whose name was given as Adewale Ajayi, is the second child of a 67-year-old hunter and a private security guard in the town.
The fourteen year-old teenager was until his untimely death a student of Erinjiyan Community High School the only government secondary school in the town, he was in Junior Secondary School (JSS) II
The unfortunate incident which occurred at about 4:30pm on the fateful day threw the entire community of Eyon-Ogbe quarter sin the ancient community into mourning.
Shortly, before the incident, people of the community had gathered in groups under the big tree at the centre of the town making fun, while some were discussing and sharing political issues and events.
The gathering was scattered immediately the news concerning the death of the teenage boy filtered into the town. Some sympatisers rushed to the scene of the incident, to see if they could rescue the late secondary school student.
According to a source in the community, who does not want his name mentioned, the father of the suspect who was a local hunter and a private security guard in charge of the ancient community, had on the fateful day placed his locally-made dane gun at the corner of his house shortly after he returned from farm.
The deceased who just came back from the school in company of his friend and classmate sighted the gun.
The late Ajayi was said to be the first person to pick the gun, before he gave it to his friend to test it if the gun would shoot. He was said to have boasted that the gun could not penetrate into his body.
This made the friend to pull the trigger of the dane gun and shot the victim to death, the sound of the gunshot later attracted other neighbours to the scene.
The victim was said to have been found in the pool of his blood when the neighbours arrived at the scene.
As at the time of filing this report, the suspect and his father were detained at the Aramoko divisional police station, while the corpse of the victim was deposited at the Morgue in an undisclosed hospital.
A Senior Police officer at the station said “the late Secondary School Student was murdered with a dane gun by his colleague. The case is under investigation at Aramoko-Ekiti Divisional Police headquarters. The corpse of the deceased had been deposited in the morgue at Aramoko-Ekiti general hospital,” he stated.
The source added that the Commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Mr. Marcus Ogundola, had led a team of operatives to the scene to prevent break down of law and order.
Similarly, a community leader in the town, Chief Cornelius Adelugba, described the incident as unfortunate, noting that he was in his house located few meters away from the scene of the incident when he heard about. He explained that when he got to the scene, he met the teenage boy on the ground in his own pool of blood.
While the suspects was wailing and crying and rolling on the ground, he was immediately rescued from the scene, and was later handed over to a detachment of police officers from the Aramoko-Ekiti, divisional police station.
The father of the victim who the dane gun was immediately arrested by the police, while the duo were whisked away to a neighbouring community, before they were later handed over to the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) attached to the Ekiti State Police Command.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ekiti State Police Command, Mr Sunday Abutu, confirmed the matter and explained that the teenager and the owner of the gun were currently detained at the Homicide section of the command. He added that the remains of the victim had also been deposited at morgue of the Specialist Hospital, Aramoko-Ekiti, while investigation has commenced on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Commandant of Amotekun Corps, Brigadier Joe Komolafe who
