Posted by By AKEEB ALARAPE, Ibadan on
Four persons were shot dead Tuesday at Omi-Adio, a small community in the outskirts of Ibadan, Oyo State, when members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) clashed with police over the death of a member of the union.
Four persons were shot dead Tuesday at Omi-Adio, a small community in the outskirts of Ibadan, Oyo State, when members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) clashed with police over the death of a member of the union.
Unspecified numbers of residents also received gunshots while 49 persons were arrested after riot policemen stormed the town to rescue the Station Officer (S.O), Omi-Adio Police Post, Mr. Emmanuel Orunisajo, who, Daily Sun learnt, was badly macheted by the aggrieved NURTW members.
Also, about 20 vehicles and five motorcycles were vandalized by police personnel deployed to the town to maintain peace, as they went on rampage. Shops were looted, rooms broken into while unlucky residents, who came their way, were maimed.
A 60-year-old man, Buliyaminu Sanu, was seen lying on the main road leading to Abeokuta after sustaining a dislocation on his right leg. Sanu, who claimed to be a bricklayer, stated that he was going for his day's job, when a riot policeman hit and manhandled him.
A woman, Mrs. Falilat Ademola said her husband, Mr. Ademola Omolewa, her two sons; Kassim Ademola and Akin Ademola were taken away by the police when they broke into their room. An elderly woman was also seen near the palace of Olomi of Omi-Adio crying bitterly that her son, a bricklayer, had been taken away by the riot police for no just cause.
Eye-witnesses disclosed that trouble started around 6.30am Tuesday, when members of the transport union waylaid the S.O. at the police post, accusing him of being responsible for the death of their member, simply called Kunle, and in protest set the police post ablaze.
The S.O. and one of his orderlies were badly macheted while the private residence of a chief in the town, Chief Amuludun, was attacked by the irate youths, who accused him of harbouring one of the escaped police officers.
Residents explained that Kunle, a driver was arrested about four days ago for allegedly assaulting a police constable, who accused him of parking carelessly on the road. He was said to have slapped the police constable.
Residents claimed that Kunle was battered on the head with baton, and blood flowing from his nose before he was taken into police custody. They claimed he was not released until Monday and he eventually died in the evening.
A community leader in the area, Evangelist Isaac Akin Badmus, told Daily Sun that all entreaties to the irate youths not to attack the police post fell on deaf ears, making other police officers to call for reinforcement.
"I was preaching when people came to me early in the morning that the police station was being burnt and that I should come and see. I dropped my microphone and came over. When I got here, I met some motorcycles being burnt. I asked who the owner was and they said the motorcycles belonged to the O.C. I now phoned the deputy-commissioner and DPO Apata and some media houses. The policemen now came and the chiefs in the town.
"The NURTW men complained that one of their members called Kunle, who happened to be son of a carpenter, was arrested by police and he was brought to the police post and tortured. A woman police, who happened to be working at the station, also disclosed that it was the O.C. himself that tortured the man. They said the boy died yesternight (Monday) and that was why they came to avenge his death", Evang. Badmus disclosed.
The preacher also disclosed that members of the NURTW and family of the deceased, had tried to secure a bail for the driver but to no avail as the S.O refused to release him, claiming that the deceased should pay the hospital bills of the police constable that was slapped.
A former chairman, Ido Local Government Council, who is also the Ekaarun Olomi of Omi-Adio, Chief Sulaiman Adeniran, corroborated the statements of the evangelist, lamenting that the matter would not have degenerated into crisis if the youths had reported the case to the elders' council in the community for appropriate intervention.
Although the elders, led by Balogun of Omi-Adio, stated that they only saw two corpses, a member of the transport union, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Daily Sun that not less than four people were killed by the rampaging policemen.
When Daily Sun visited St. Jacob Mission Hospital, where the corpses and the wounded were alleged to have been taken to, a staff of the hospital, Mr. A.A. Adejumo, disclosed that only two people with gunshot injuries were brought to the hospital and that they had been referred to the University Teaching Hospital (UCH) due to the degree of their injury.
But reacting to the incident, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Oyo State Command, Miss Okuwobi Olabisi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said that only one person was shot dead while 49 persons have been arrested over the fracas.
Olabisi disclosed that the action of the NURTW was a fallout of the threat by her boss, the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Udom Ekpoudom, that the state would no longer harbour hoodlums disguising as members of the transport union.
"We were shocked that something that could have been amicably resolved was taken to that extent. We just feel it is an extension of culture of violence that has evolved in the state before the arrival of the CP. It is a serious offence to slap a policeman, even to pull a police uniform is a serious offence.
"They said the man that was arrested died yesterday.
When does arrest kill a man? Let us assumed that this man was actually tortured to death by this officer, was there no way of expressing their grievances other than to burn down the police station and machet the
station officer? The station officer was still in coma now at the hospital. Doctors said he has lost too much blood.
"Is the police officer the owner of that place? That is public institution for goodness sake. They built the place to protect them. Policemen come and they go. Should they now because of one person, who commits an offence burn down the whole of Oyo State. Left for me, I will just say it was a fallout of the CP's threat to the NURTW in the state against thuggery. I believe definitely that they wanted to take the war to our own front to let the Commissioner of Police know their worth in the state, that they were actually aggressive," Olabisi stated.