There was a mild drama on Friday, when members of Isoro cult hijacked the corpse of Obalufe of Iremo Quarters, Ile Ife, Oba Solomon Omisakin, during his funeral ceremony in the ancient city.
Isoro cult, headed by Obadio, is a powerful cult in Ile Ife and only an Ooni, among all palace traditional title holders is a member.
The late Obalufe, who was the traditional prime minister of Ile Ife, was next to Ooni and passed on at the age of 85 in September.
A close family source, who preferred anonymity, told Sunday Tribune that the late Obalufe was due for burial early Friday.
However, members of Isoro cult, one of the top traditional societies in Ile-Ife, were said to have stormed his residence located at Eleyele and seized the remains of Omisakin, thus thwarting his interment, which was scheduled to hold around 8.00a.m on Friday.
According to a family source, “it is true that members of Isoro cult came to halt the interment in the morning and we could not proceed with Obalufe’s burial. They claimed that they (Isoro Cult) have some things to collect from our father before we can bury him and we don’t know what they wanted to collect from a dead person.”
He further stated that “we could not bury his corpse until around 4.00 p.m on Friday. But, the Isoro cult members collected N500,000 from us before we could inter his remains.”
“The initial rumour that his corpse was seized by Ogboni Confraternity was not true. It was the Isoros that seized his remains and it took us time before we could settle the matter,” the source added.
