Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja

Pandemonium broke out, on Sunday, at Ogaminana, in Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State, following the alleged murder of an okada rider, Onimisi Ilori, by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (SCDC).

According to an eyewitness account, a man was said to have lodged a complaint to the Ogaminana divisional office of the Corps where he alleged that Ilori – the man riding his Okada – had  bolted with his okada without his knowledge.

The operatives were said to have immediately collected the mobile number of the suspect and invited him to their office for interrogation, which he was said  to have complied  with.

According to the account, on interrogation, the suspect was said to have told the operatives that he did not run away with the motor cycle but it was stolen where he had parked it the previous day and that he immediately  reported same to the owner.

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But the operatives  who claimed he was telling lies, were said to have bounced on him, beating him black and blue and later  detained him in their cell where he was allegedly tortured to death.

As the news of his death filtered to town, it was gathered that Okada riders in the town invaded the  NSCDC office chanting war songs and demanding the release of the corpse of their colleague while some of them were said to have trooped to the high way obstructing the free flow of traffic.

It was further learnt that the quick intervention of the anti riot police men drafted to the scene saved the situation from degenerating further.

When contacting for his reaction, the spoke man of the NSCDC, Kogi State command, Alex Agiri, confirmed the incident and said the command was investigating the incident but curiosity 30 minutes later, he called back to say the incident never took place.