By Tunde Aiyedoju

Wednesday was a bloody and sad day for some residents of Akure, the Ondo State capital, especially for people in Arakale and Adegbemile axis of the town.
It all started when a white bus driver reportedly knocked down a commercial motorcyclist, killing the rider on the spot, while the passenger, a cocoa merchant is currently battling with his life at a, hospital in Akure.
According to eyewitness, other commercial motorcyclists, in hundreds mobilised their members to protest against the accident that led to the death of their colleague.
As the protest gathered momentum, a policeman attached to a nearby filling station, Farbas, was said to have fired shots into the air in an attempt to disperse the protesters. An eyewitness who did not want his name in print said that one of the shots fired by the policeman hit another Okada rider. The Okada rider too died on the spot.
Sensing danger, the policeman took to his heels, fleeing to the nearby A-Division police station to seek refuge. The protesters did not hesitate to pursue him. to the police state in annoyance Eyewitness account said that the riders broke the gate of the police station and started throwing stones into the building.

According to him, “Some policemen scaled the fence and ran away, while others struggled to take their vehicles away from the barracks.
“Bonfires were set in front of the ‘A’ Division as the Okada riders demanded to see the policeman who shot dead one of their colleagues.
The protesting Okada riders demanded the release of the killer-policeman or they would set the building ablaze. It would be recalled that the same A-Division police station was attacked by hoodlums who burnt it and destroyed vehicles of police officers during the #EndSARS protest October last year.
While confirming the incident, the Ondo Police Public Relations Officer, Funmilayo Odunlami, said the situation has been put under control.
“There was an accident along Arakale where two persons were killed,” she said.
“One of our men while trying to rescue the driver of the car that killed an okada rider and a passenger was attacked and in the process, another okada rider was killed.
“The protesting riders mobilised to A Division to attack the place.”
The ACP Festus Otabor came to the scene trying to calm the angry protesters down, but they refused to listen to him. They began to chant, “Bring out the police man who killed the Okada rider for us.”
On top of the ACP’s voice he demanded that five people should go with him to see the Commissioner of Police but they refused. ACP Otabor and the Divisional Police Officer of the Division were seen removing barricades from the road, to make way for commuters, as they tried to contain the ugly situation.
Meanwhile, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Dr Doyin Odebowale, has assured Okada riders in Akure that the death of their members killed by a motorist and shot by a policeman which led to a riot on Wednesday would not be in vain.
Odebowale, while addressing the okada protesters, urged them to be law abiding and not take law into their hands, stressing that the deaths would be properly investigated and culprits brought to book.
While addressing his men, the chairman of Okada Riders Association who simply identified himself as Major, said, “If we are to start destroying properties out of the annoyance that we have lost two of us, we Okada riders would eventually be the losers. We need to exercise a little patience because the deed has already happened and the persons that lost their lives have gone. Our own is to follow the case up till we get justice and to also think on how we could take care of the families the deceased left behind. I have called government attention to it, and the Governor has promised to sue the owner of this ill-fated vehicle.
Meanwhile, the dead bodies have been deposited in the mortuary.