By Adetokunbo Fakeye
Nigeria - The Ogun State Police Command has stated that narrative given to Igbeba-Ijebu-Ode incident viral video on social media is false.
Narrating what happened, the Command spokesperson, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi said, "on the 17th of May 2023, at about 12 noon, a Toyota Camry car, with registration number LSR 59 HS, driven by a mechanic apprentice while on high speed knocked down a motorcyclist later identified as Ganiyu Musiliu, and instead of the driver to stop and take care of the seriously injured okada rider, he started running away.
"The vehicle was pursued by people around, and the police patrol team from Igbeba division, stationed along Molipa road was alerted about the oncoming car towards their end.
"The patrol team having sighted the car, tried to block it from escape and that resulted to the accident.
"The miscreants at the scene who are ignorant of the reason for blocking the car by the policemen made attempt to attack the policemen, but were dispersed by DPO Obalende and his men who also raced to the scene.
"The injured Okada man was rushed to state hospital Ijebu-Ode, while the driver has been arrested.
"It is therefore a thing of surprise to read on social media that the policemen were chasing the car because they thought it was a Yahoo boy that drove it. The peddlers of the false narative also alleged that the driver of the car died on the spot.
"The commands hereby wishes to state that all these narratives are far from the truth as no life was lost and the whole incident has nothing to do with issue of Yahoo boys".
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Olanrewaju Oladimeji, has ordered a full scale investigation of the incident with the view to prosecute anyone found culpable in the case.
The CP, Abimbola said, also appealed to members of the public to always find out the truth before posting information on social media.
"The life of every citizen is worthy to be protected including that of Okada rider, therefore, downplaying the incident because it happened to an Okada rider is height of insensitivity", CP said.