Ile Oodua ’s Palace of Ooni of Ife one building was on Wednesday gutted by fire , causing panic in the ancient city .
This was confirmed by the Administrative Officer of Osun State Fire Service , Fatai Aremu.
Farah Aremu further explained that the fire affected just one room in the said building .
He also described the effect as severe and blamed the development on a power surge.
He said , “One of the rooms in the administrative building of the Ooni ’s palace was gutted by fire . Our personnel at Ile – Ife Fire Station were called to the incident at 1 : 20 pm and they responded swiftly to the call and were able to put out the fire .
“The fire was caused by a power surge. Though the fire affected a room , the effect was severe as it blew off the roof of that room . It would have spread beyond that , but due to prompt arrival of fire personnel .
“Property affected are; clothes, upholstery chairs , and other home use equipment as the room belongs to one of the chiefs . OAU Fire personnel and OAUTHC personnel assisted. Property saved worth N10 billion naira while estimated loss worth N1 million .”
Meanwhile , the Palace of Ooni of Ife , Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi , has said the incident was a minor inferno which lasted for about 20 minutes .
A statement by Moses Olafare , the Director of Media and Public Affairs , Ooni ’s Palace, said , “The minor inferno which lasted for about 20 minutes was immediately put out by collective efforts of people in the palace led by the Ooni ’s Chief Security , Kolawole Emmanuel , later joined by men of the fire services from the state government , Obafemi Awolowo University , Ile -Ife and Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital , Ile- Ife .
“Aside from the fact that , there was no causality whatsoever , the fire was just a minor occurrence which was nothing to be compared to the misleading huge pictures being painted in the media , particularly the social media .
“While it is suspected to have emanated from an electric spark , measures are currently in place to reveal the cause of the inferno .”
