Society Gists

An officer with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has killed a commercial motorcyclist in Akure, the Ondo State capital, sparking protests in the city.

SaharaReporters gathered that the cyclist was “crushed to death” in an accident that occurred at Damilak Gas Station, along Ondo road.

Although the identity of the cyclist could not be immediately ascertained as of the time of the fatal accident, several sources said the deceased was an indigene of Akure.

Irked by the sad development, many commercial motorcyclists in Akure have protested the killing of their colleagues.

They shut down business activities on the Oba Adesida road, making bon fires and causing traffick gridlock that lasted several hours. The protesters then marched to the office of the NSCDC, in demonstration.

During the protest, it was gathered that an elder sister of the yet-to-be-identified motorcyclist, who joined in the demonstration to the NSCDC office, was also shot dead by a trigger-happy officer.

The action further angered many of the commercial motorcyclists in the state, as they mobilised to shut down all the roads in the state capital.

Our correspondent sighted many of the protesting commercial cyclists moving round with the “corpses” of the two victims.

A source within the NSCDC office in the Akure Command confirmed the killing of the commercial motorcyclist to SaharaReporters.

“It was one of our officers who was travelling for an important exam on Tuesday evening that crushed the motorcycle rider to death on Ondo road. In fact, he (the officer) did not even know that the commercial motorcyclist had given up the ghost as he was rushed to the hospital.

“But we were surprised today when his colleagues [motorcyclists] came to the command and began to raise their voices in protest. In fact, the protesters became very aggressive and threw stones at us here, but we had to [react] by shooting up.”

Oladapo Samuel, spokesman of the NSCDC in the state command, also confirmed the sad accident, telling SaharaReporters in a phone interview that the NSCDC officer who crushed the commercial cyclist came from Abuja for an exam.

“The accident occurred yesterday. It was an officer from the command’s office in Abuja who came for an examination that caused it. This officer was travelling on Ondo road when the ‘okada man’ with two other passengers drove past him and they were crushed.

“They were immediately rushed to the state hospital for treatment and the officer had to pay the hospital bills before leaving there. However, we heard today that one of them commercial motorcyclists died on Tuesday morning inside the hospital and this forced his colleagues to protest in the state.”

As of the time of filing this report, the state capital, Akure, is still under tense atmosphere.

Many youth in the community have already taken to the streets to join in the protest against the killing of the two family members.