From Felix Mordi
Itori community in the Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State literally went up in flames today at the instance of commercial motorcyclists, in protest of the killing of one of them by an alleged customs induced accident.
The irate motorcyclists, Crime Puzzle gathered, went on rampage, besieged 1317 Hotel and Suits on Onigbedu Road, where the Customs operatives always lodged and wrecked havock.
They had succeeded in torching four vehicles within the hotel premises and, were on the verge of setting the entire hotel ablaze when the state Police Commissioner, Lanre Bankole, arrived the scene with his team and tactical brought the situation under control.
Eye witnesses accounts revealed that operatives of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone “A”, Lagos, of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had embarked on a chase of an alleged smuggler and, to avoid being caught up with and his goods impounded, the escaping ‘smuggler’ hit a motorcyclist, killing him on the spot.
When contacted on the phone, to react to the incident, the National Public Relations Officer (NPRO) of Customs, DC Timi Bomodi, said he was yet to receive any report of such, adding that he would make findings and get back to our reporter.
In the same vein, our reporter put a call across to the FOU “A” Command PRO, DSC Theophilus Duniya, who responded as follows: “It was an accident involving a speeding vehicle that hit a motorcycle. Our officers were stationed some few meters away from the scene of the accident. It was reported that youths within the area wanted to lynch the driver of the vehicle before the police came and rescued him.
“It bacame a chaotic situation. Our officers were not in any hot pursuit of any vehicle; there was no chase. Just like I told you earlier, that there was no incident reported at the headquarters. If there was any incident like that, they would have reported.
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