There was pandemonium at Agodi area in Ibadan, Oyo State on Tuesday, November 24, 2020, when a commercial motorcycle rider got injured on part of his head, as he was hit by a canister of tear gas which fell from a correctional facility warden.
Reporters At Large gathered that trouble started at about 9:30a.m., when an argument arose between the warden and bike rider, resulting in the rider falling off his bike when pushed.
As he lay on the ground, a soldier was said to have approached him and the warden to know what was going on.
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In the process, the canister, hanging on the warden’s waist, fell and exploded, injuring part of the bike rider’s head.
An eyewitness, who craved anonymity, said that other commercial motorcyclists surrounded the scene and were angered by the happening.
The injured man was quickly rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, for urgent medical attention.
Things took another turn when rumour milled round that the injured man was dead, causing more motorcyclists to converge on the place and start violence.
They reportedly gathered and blocked the main road, while bonfires were made at different points between the prison and Idi Ogungun, an outpost under Yemetu police station.
The mob also started throwing stones and other things at the correctional facility.
This was said to have caused tension, making security forces and law enforcement agents to secure the correctional facility and its environment, while they were reinforced by other security operatives mobilised to the scene.
Operatives of Operation Burst also came to join them, and chased the mob away.
However, the mob returned, attacked Idi Ogungun outpost and set it ablaze.
Also, Agodi outpost was attacked and its louvre blades broken.
It will be recalled that since the EndSARS protests were hijacked by hoodlums, security operatives from military and paramilitary forces had been guarding the Ibadan correctional facility, to prevent jailbreak.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Olugbenga Fadeyi said that contrary to speculations that the incident which occurred at Agodi Gate area involved a police officer and a bike rider, it was between the rider and a correctional facility officer.
The PPRO said that everything was being brought to normalcy, as police operatives and more police patrol vans had been deployed to the scene.
He added that other security operatives were also there to maintain peace and order.
Public Relations Officer of UCH, Toye Akinrinlola, confirmed the admission of the motorcycle rider at the emergency unit of the hospital.
Akinrinlola said: “the man (motorcycle rider) is not dead. He had cuts, and they have been sutured.”
