Osun State was gripped by mourning and unease on Sunday after a prominent transport union figure and ally of Governor Ademola Adeleke was killed in a violent clash over motor park control in Ile-Ife, an incident that triggered gunfire in Osogbo and a sweeping policy response from Government House.
The deceased has been identified more fully than initial reports suggested: his real name was Olalekan Oyeyemi, widely known by his moniker “Emir Ajagungbade.”
Far from a peripheral figure, Oyeyemi was a known associate of Governor Adeleke and a member of the Accord Party, with reported roots in the transition team assembled ahead of Adeleke’s inauguration.
His history in Osun’s volatile transport-union politics was not without controversy police had declared him wanted in July 2022 over allegations of murder, cultism, and armed robbery, and he was later arraigned in 2024 at the Federal High Court in Osogbo on charges including terrorism and conspiracy.
That such a figure could still be cut down in broad daylight, at a meeting ostensibly about park administration, underscores how entrenched and dangerous the fight for control of Osun’s garages has become.
According to multiple accounts gathered from the scene, Oyeyemi had convened or attended a meeting with transport operators at Mayfair Garage in Ile-Ife on Sunday afternoon when violence erupted.
Some reports indicate individuals stormed the meeting venue, precipitating a confrontation; others point to a direct clash with rivals tied to the Ife Mini-Bus park leadership.
Two names have surfaced repeatedly in connection with the opposing camp: Comrade Nurudeen Alowonle and the Ife Mini-Bus chairman known as “Síbí” both, notably also members of the Accord Party in Osun State, suggesting the feud was less a partisan political battle than an internal turf war over who controls the lucrative daily revenues generated at motor parks.
The precise mechanism of Oyeyemi’s death remains contested: while circulating video showed him lying in a pool of blood, some outlets reported he died from gunshot wounds while others suggested he was struck with stones during the melee.
What is not disputed is that he died at or near the scene and that his killing has been treated by the state government as a homicide requiring urgent action.
News of Oyeyemi’s death travelled fast and violently. Tension gripped Osogbo as sporadic gunshots were heard in parts of the metropolis following the killing.
Witnesses reported that the news triggered a wave of shootings by some of his followers, who rode through the city on motorcycles firing into the air, spreading panic.
Areas including Oja-Oba, Gbaemu, Jaleyemi, and Odi-Olowo were affected, with residents along major roads shutting their doors and staying indoors for fear of being caught in crossfire.
In Ile-Ife itself, a vehicle fleeing the scene of the original clash reportedly collided with an 18-seater bus along the Ife-Ibadan Expressway, a grim coda to an already chaotic afternoon.
Governor Adeleke moved quickly to try to contain the fallout. In a statement issued through his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the governor ordered Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Zungur (also referenced in some reports as “Zungura”) to arrest everyone connected to the killing, declaring that there would be “no sacred cows” and that all culprits would be brought to book.
Beyond the arrests, Adeleke’s response signals a broader structural intervention. He has directed the immediate vacation of all motor parks by warring factions and ordered security agencies to restore normalcy.
More strikingly, according to one report, the administration has moved to ban the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state altogether a dramatic step that would effectively strip the union widely blamed for chronic park violence of its operational footing in Osun.
In its place, the governor has pledged to reintroduce a park management system, promising to issue an executive order giving it legal backing to restore what he called discipline and orderliness across the state’s parks and garages.
Sunday’s killing is the latest and most consequential eruption in a long-simmering conflict over who controls Osun’s motor park contests that generate significant daily income through levies and tolls and which have repeatedly turned violent across Nigeria’s southwest.
Efforts to reach the Osun Police Command’s spokesperson for independent confirmation of casualty details were unsuccessful at the time reporting closed, and several core facts, including the exact cause of death and the full list of those involved, remain unverified by independent sources.
As security operatives take over the Mayfair Garage and investigations proceed, residents of Ile-Ife and Osogbo alike are left waiting to see whether the governor’s promised reforms can outlast the immediate outrage or whether the underlying rivalry for control of the parks will simply regroup under new leadership.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Olalekan Oyeyemi (“Emir Ajagungbade”), an Accord Party figure and known associate of Governor Adeleke, was killed Sunday in Ile-Ife during a violent leadership dispute over control of Mayfair Motor Park, a clash that spread into gunfire across Osogbo.
This wasn’t a random attack but the latest flashpoint in Osun’s long-running, high-stakes turf war over motor park control, where union leadership equals access to significant daily revenue.
Governor Adeleke has responded with arrests, a reported NURTW ban, and plans for a new Park Management System, but until the underlying fight over who profits from the parks is resolved, the risk of further violence remains real.
