The Ondo State Police Command on Monday said a 42-year-old Okada rider, Jimoh Adams, rammed into a stationary vehicle and died while avoiding Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s convoy in Owo.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Tee-Leo Ikoro, said in Akure, the state capital, that the commercial motorcyclist was trying to avoid the convoy when the incident occurred on Sunday night.
Ikoro said, “There was an accident yesterday (Sunday) night in Owo where an Okada man on high speed rammed into stationary Jeep and died on the spot.
“It was not the convoy of the governor that killed him, the truth is that it was the speed of the Okada man that was the problem, and he rammed into the stationary vehicle and killed himself.
“He suddenly heard the governor convoy’s siren, he was speeding and to avoid the convoy, he rammed into a stationary vehicle (Jeep).
“When the police heard about the incident, we came down to the scene immediately but before we got there the family of the deceased had taken him away for burial.”
The governor’s convoy was said to be returning from Oka-Akoko in Akoko South-West Local Government Area for Akure when the incident occurred.
According to a family member, the deceased, who was a resident on Oba-Nla Street, Okedogbon Quarters, Owo, is survived by a wife and children.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo in a statement released on behalf of the governor, corrected earlier reports which claimed that the governor’s convoy crushed the commercial motorcyclist to death.
“This, without prejudice to Police investigation, is the outcome of our preliminary probe on the heels of the anxiety understandably generated by the deliberate news slant.” the statement reads.
“The incidented vehicle is now at the Police Station in Owo for inspection and possible verification by Journalists as well as the public.
“Notwithstanding that the Governor’s convoy was not involved as erroneously painted in the reports, Governor Akeredolu sympathises with the family of the deceased and prays God for the repose of his soul.
“This incident, unfortunate and avoidable as it seems, underscores the need for caution on our highways.”
