Anxiety on Tuesday gripped the people of lkare Akoko area of Ondo State following the demise of the 85-year-old, Owa- Ale of lkare, Oba Samuel Kolapo Adegbite-Adedoyin.
Oba Adedoyin, the 17th Owa- Ale of lkare reigned for 48 years.
The foremost monarch, it was gathered, joined his ancestors early on Tuesday in his palace located at the Okorun area of the ancient town.
A source in the palace, however, said that the monarch died after a brief illness.
Before his demise, Oba Adedoyin was the President of a group of Ondo State traditional rulers under 130 Krown Obas and member of the State Council of Obas.
The distraught people of the ancient town were seen in groups discussing the demise of the traditional ruler.
The Olona of Ikare, High Chief Rafiu Okunade, said the palace would make an official announcement after all necessary traditional rites had been carried out in line with the customs and norms of the town.
Oba Adedoyin was born in 1935, two years after the demise of Saint Moses Orimolade Tunolase, the founder of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, who also hailed from the Okorun area of Ikare.
The late monarch, who was the only child of his late mother, Mama Janet Omotola Adedoyin, attended Ebenezer A/C school, Ikare; Victory College, Ikare where he was a classmate with famous Nigerians like late Chief Gani Fawehinmi; Afenifere Secretary, Basorun Seinde Arogbofa and host of others.
The late Oba was also a former lay President of African Church worldwide.
He studied law in the United Kingdom before he returned home to ascend the throne of his forefathers in 1972.
His reign according to a leader of the town “would not be forgotten as he used his connection as a famous legal practitioner and first educated Owa-Ale to facilitate the establishment of more than eight secondary schools between 1978 and 1982.