Ibadan Explosion : Oyo Oba Narrowly escaped death

A little misunderstanding between an Ibadan Oba and his wife later turned out a saving grace for them following the explosion that rocked Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

It claimed some lives and several property. Governor Seyi Makinde, who visited the scene of the explosion confirmed that illegal miners who stored explosive devices in their houses were responsible for the explosion.

Meanwhile,  a relation of the Oba, Mr Akerele Alabi Ogun who narrated the king’s story to Saturday Vanguard said, “before the unpleasant explosion on Tuesday, the wife of one of the Obas crowned by the Olubadan, had prepared rice for dinner, expecting her husband to arrive home. But, when the Oba arrived home, he disappointed his wife who had prepared a delicious meal of rice and tasty stew for him by saying he didn’t want rice but would prefer beans instead.

Both the Oba and the wife dragged the issue for a long time. The wife who is aged reportedly appealed to the him saying, ‘please manage this rice for tonight, it will be a little bit late for me to be preparing beans now’. This still didn’t go down well with the Oba who insisted on having his request obeyed. The wife, not wanting to annoy her husband then agreed to cook beans and they were both sitting in the living room.

When the beans was half done, the Oba had started dozing off but the wife managed to keep him awake by engaging him in discussion and requested for more time for the beans to be done. But when the Oba could no longer keep himself awake, he told his wife he was going to bed and would not eat again.

The wife bluntly refused, complaining why the he would make her suffer for nothing despite the fact that she advised against cooking beans. “She then said she would never allow the Oba to go to bed without eating the beans she had taken pains to prepare. As they were dragging this, there was a deafening blast which sent them to different directions. Both however managed to escape.

When the dust settled, it was later discovered that a very large broken concrete had fallen on the same bed the Oba was to have slept on if his wife had not fought to stop him from going to bed. It then dawned on them that the insistence of the wife to ensure that her husband did not go to bed had saved his life.

Mr Ogun, however, did not disclose the name of the Oba who is one of the Obas within the 11 local government areas of Ibadan. He said, “I was not granted permission to share the story but I think no harm has been done since I didn’t mention the Oba’s name or his local government.

The Oba is said to be preparing for a special thanksgiving to appreciate God for sparing his life.