A section of the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu’s palace at the Iga Iduganran area of Lagos Island was on Tuesday gutted by fire.
The fire was reported to have started from an air conditioner in an apartment inside the palace.
The fire started at about 1.30pm after which Lagos State Fire Service firefighters attached to Iganmu were contacted.
The firefighters battled the fire for about an hour before finally putting it out.
Ibrahim Farinloye, the spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Authority, NEMA, said the fire was quickly nipped in the bud by the various emergency agencies on ground.
Meanwhile, following speculations that the fire had to do with the Oba’s relationship with the Ooni of Ife, spokesperson of the Ooni’s palace, Moses Olafare, stated that the Ife monarch, Enitan Ogunwusi, is unhappy with the fire incident.
“We are not happy over the fact that the palace of Lagos king got burnt, we can only sympathise with the palace on the development,” he said.
“People are entitled to their own views,” he said. “But what people say doesn’t mean that is the position of the palace.”
“What happened is mere coincidence and should not be traced to the incident in Lagos, we send our sympathies,” he added.
The fire occurred about one week after a video showed the Lagos monarch, Rilwan Akiolu, snub the Ooni.
