Second body recovered as slain Osun Accord chieftain buried

The Osun State Police Command recovered a second corpse on Monday from the Mayfair Motor Park in Ile-Ife, raising the death toll from Sunday’s violent clash to two, even as the remains of Accord Party chieftain Olalekan Oyeyemi, popularly known as Emir Ajagungbade, were interred according to traditional rites at his newly completed residence in Agunbelewo, Osogbo.

Police spokesperson Abiodun Ojelabi confirmed that the park has remained closed on the governor’s directive and that the second body was deposited in a morgue. The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for deeper probe. Ojelabi urged anyone named in connection with the incident to report to the nearest police station rather than defend themselves on social media, stressing that the Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Zungura, has vowed that all those involved will be apprehended and face the law regardless of status.

Oyeyemi, a political associate of Governor Ademola Adeleke and member of the Accord Party, was shot dead on Sunday during a confrontation at the Mayfair Motor Park linked to a long-running leadership tussle within the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) over control of motor parks. A video circulating on social media showed him lying face down in a pool of blood inside a vehicle. Security sources and eyewitnesses described the incident as a clash involving a group led by another NURTW figure known as Sibi (identified in some accounts as Olayemi Ojo or Adeyemi Ojo, branch chairman of Sabo/Lagere) and others associated with Nurudeen Alowonle.

Eyewitness accounts indicate that Oyeyemi and associates had attended a meeting earlier that morning at the residence of the Commissioner for Transportation, Sesan Oyedele (also referred to in some reports as Ephraim Oyedele), in Modakeke. Some union leaders later claimed the commissioner endorsed Oyeyemi as the next state NURTW chairman. Oyedele rejected the allegation, saying the leaders came to him of their own accord around 9 a.m. on Sunday to inform him of their collective decision to install Oyeyemi and seek his support. He said he told them he would present their position to the governor and other officials upon the governor’s return, and that he received news of the killing about two hours after they left.

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Governor Adeleke, through his spokesperson Olawale Rasheed, confirmed the death, ordered the immediate arrest of those responsible, directed warring groups to vacate all motor parks, and announced the reintroduction of a Park Management System. He indicated an executive order would soon formalise the new system to restore order and discipline across parks and garages in the state. Security has been tightened at motor parks, particularly in Osogbo, amid fears of reprisals.

The burial rites, conducted by traditionalists in the presence of close family members and priests, took place at Oyeyemi’s Agunbelewo residence. Associates who accompanied the body from the Osun State University Teaching Hospital morgue waited outside. Earlier at the hospital, suspected associates of the deceased allegedly attacked two staff members after discovering they were being recorded on phones; additional police presence later restored calm.

The killing is the latest escalation in a protracted NURTW crisis in Osun that has seen factional clashes, suspensions of union activities in parks, competing claims of leadership legitimacy, and previous violence. Oyeyemi had a history of legal controversies, including earlier police declarations that he was wanted over serious allegations. Police continue to investigate the immediate and remote causes of Sunday’s shooting and have warned against further violence or reprisals.