Some youths in Akure, Ondo State, on Wednesday took to the street to protest against the death of two persons, a man and lady who were allegedly killed by the men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
It was gathered that the deceased were siblings, but their identities had not been revealed as of the time of filing this report.
According to an eyewitness, trouble started when an officer of the NSCDC allegedly hit a man, who was riding a motorcycle on Tuesday, with his car in the Ondo Road area of the town and the man reportedly died at a hospital.
It was learnt that the death of the okada rider sparked off a protest by the deceased’s friends and family.
He said, “During the protest, a sister of the deceased saw a team of the NSCDC operatives and verbally assaulted them. One of the operatives fired a shot at the woman and she died on the spot.”
Another source said the death of the okada rider was an accident.
“After the NSCDC officer hit the okada rider on Tuesday, the man was taken to a hospital but the man died. It was when the family members went to take the corpse at the hospital that the protest started.
“As the protesters saw the men of the NSCDC on the road, they decided to vent their anger on them. Probably out of self defence, one of officer shot the sister of the late okada rider, making it two people that died in the hands of NSCDC men.”
For several hours on Wednesday, the popular Oba Adesida Road was barricaded by protesters, while the corpses of the deceased were later taken away in a van.
The Public Relations Officer of the Ondo State Command of the NSCDC, Mr Oladapo Samuel, said the men of the command did not kill anybody.
He explained that an officer of the Corps from Abuja, who was in Akure for an examination, was involved in an accident with two persons on a commercial motorcycle on Tuesday.
According to him, the officer, whose name he did not mention, took the victims to a hospital for treatment.
He said, “The officer involved in the accident was our man serving at the national headquarters in Abuja. After the accident, he took the victims to a hospital and paid the bills, but unfortunately one of the victims died this morning (Wednesday). Because of that, the people started a protest.
“However, the protest was hijacked by hoodlums and they moved to our office. Immediately, we mobilised our men to the place to forestall a breakdown of law and order.
“The issue of shooting somebody dead; I don’t know anything about that. It was a violent protest, because some of the protesters have guns.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Femi Joseph, confirmed that two people died, saying the one that was involved in the accident on Tuesday died at the hospital, while another person died during the protest.
“We have yet to identify the victims. But since it is an inter-security agencies matter, we shall definitely investigate and bring whoever is found culpable to book.”
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