Iju-Odo, an Ikale town in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State is blessed with sons and daughters who have excelled in their various fields of endeavour.  The town, which has long been celebrating her successful sons and daughters with pomp and ceremony,  recently witnessed an uneasy calm as death stretched its cold hands and snatched away two illustrious sons of the town within a space of six monthsThree months ago, the monarch of the town,  Oba Temola, the Norofun of Iju-Odo joined his ancestors after a brief illness. The town was still mourning the passage of the monarch when another prominent son of the town, Dr Olusegun Agagu, the immediate past governor of the state died after he had reportedly slumped in his Ikoyi, Lagos residence. The two calamities that befell the town within a short period of time have suddenly turned to issues of group discussions within the town and beyond, thus raising fears and festering insinuations. 

The regent of the town, Chief Sehinde Oguntoye,  however, dismissed any evil connotation to the death of the two illustrious sons of the town.

The regent  agreed that Iju-odo people were still trying to get over the death of the monarch when the sudden death of Dr Agagu was announced “as if Iju-Odo committed sins.”

According to him: “We take solace in the fact that only God can create and take away anytime He feels like. The death of our sons within a short period of time is just a mere co-incidence, they died natural death, which does not have any human hands.

“It is mandatory we must die because death is the necessary end of everybody, so the death of Agagu and the monarch from the same town came at a time nobody expected it. Even the two deceased did not prepare for it; so we should thank God that they lived lives worthy of emulation.”

“We pray to God to please have mercy on us and stop this type of calamity in our town again. Religious leaders have been asked to pray vehemently against such occurrence in future while the  traditionalists too  have been directed by the chiefs to offer sacrifice to appease the gods so that such tragedies will not rear their heads again in the land”, the regent added.

Also, the elder sister of the late governor, Mrs Olayinka Ogunsusi described the death of her younger brother, Dr Agagu and that of the monarch as devastating losses which, according to her, will affect the development of the town.

“Iju-Odo people are at the moment grieving and mourning over the death of our sons but God knows why. Nobody killed them; they died natural death but it was just a co-incidence. God will comfort the town and spare the lives of the rest of us”.

-Sun