There was apprehension in Ile-Ife on Wednesday as a building in the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, went up in flame.
However, Oba Enitan has allayed the fears of the people on the incident saying that it was a minor occurrence.
Ooni’s palace is the oldest in Yoruba land.
According to the monarch, the fire affected a section of the administrative buildings.
Oyo Reporters learnt that the incident, which occurred around 1:15pm, however left no casualty in its trail.
A statement by the Director of Media and Public Affairs to the monarch, Moses Olafare, indicated that the inferno was minor and it lasted nearly 20 minutes.
It added that the inferno was put out by the palace guards and other people who were in the palace at the time of the incident.
Efforts to quell the fire was led by the Chief Security Officer to Ooni, Kolawole Emmanuel, before the arrival of fire fighters from the state fire service and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife fire section.
The statement read, “Aside from the fact that there was no causality, the fire was just a minor occurrence which was nothing to be compared to the misleading huge pictures being painted in the media, particularly the social media.
“While it is suspected to have emanated from an electric spark, measures are currently in place to reveal the cause of the inferno.
“We wish to thank men of the Osun State Fire Service, Obafemi Awolowo University Fire Service and OAUTH Fire Service for their swift response, while efforts of well meaning Nigerians who reached out to the palace for objective analysis are equally appreciated.”
