Suspected hoodlums have set ablaze the palace of the traditional ruler of Oboro Amurie Kingdom in Isu Local Government Area of Imo State Eze V.O. Ahamefule Duruoha 1. It was gathered that the fire which engulfed the entire palace took place around midnight.
It was learnt that some armed hoodlums drove into the palace and set the entire palace on fire. The inferno destroyed property but the monarch and his children were rescued unhurt.
However, palace sources said the palace was not set ablaze by gunmen.
On Tuesday, the palace spokesman Ezinwa N’Isu, Chief Sixtus Nnamdi Nsorom urged the public to disregard such unfounded rumours linking gunmen to the fire outbreak.
“The entire public is hereby urged to disregard such unfounded rumours linking gunmen to the fire incident as Eze Ahamefule of Oboro Amurie Kingdom has no problems with anybody by whatsoever nomenclature. The desecration of the sacred Kingdom of peace of Uzunakpuigwe remains condemnable and is an abomination in the highest order.
“While we thank God Almighty that no life was lost, we will continue to dig deep to unravel the root cause of the unfortunate incident. Eze Duruoha remains a universal king loved by all.
Hence, the rumour of gunmen is hereby jettisoned as it is untrue, fake and should be seen as null and void,” he stated.
Also, the spokesman of Imo State Police Command Michael Abattam, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) told The Nation that investigation is still ongoing to unravel the cause of the fire outbreak.
“We don’t know the cause of the fire, we are still investigating,” he said.
