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By Dayo Johnson, AKURE

Commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada riders, are protesting the killing of their colleague by a policeman in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

They mobilised in their hundreds to attack the ‘A’ Division Police Station in the state capital and chased away the policemen.

Vanguard gathered that a policeman allegedly shot one Okada rider at Arakale area in the metropolis.

The shooting was meant to disperse the ‘okadamen’ that were protesting an earlier killing of their colleague.

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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 origin

Another source alleged that earlier in the day, a driver had knocked down and killed one okada rider and his passenger at Arakale area of the state capital.

Both men, according to the source, died on the spot, following which other Okada riders began a protest.

However, a policeman reportedly attached to a filling station in the area was said to have fired shots in the air to scare the protesters.

But and okada rider was hit by a bullet.

The policeman, on sensing that he may mobbed, reportedly fled to the ‘A’ Division for refuge and the colleagues of the victim went him him and attacked the station.

The protesting Okada riders demanded for the release of the killer-policeman or they would set the building ablaze.

Contacted, the state police command spokesperson, Funmi Odunlami, said she was yet to be briefed about the incident.

Vanguard News Nigeria