From Bamigbola Gbolagunte Akure
There was serious pandemonium in the sleepy town of Kajola in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State on Sunday as irate youths numbering over 100 attempted to burn down the police post in the town, following the alleged killing of some residents of the town by the police at a police check point.
In the ensuing melee, three persons including the traditional head of the town lost their lives.
The angry mob had thronged the Police divisional headquarters in Kajola to protest the alleged killing of some indigenes of the town by the police.
The protesters alleged that some residents of the town were shot dead by the police at their checkpoints along Lagos/Benin expressways on Saturday evening.
The protesters dumped the corpses of the three people at the office of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the town, just as they chanted various solidarity songs.
The victims; David Olowofeyekun, Gbenga Abayomi and Kola Akinduro who was the head of Korede Village, were on a motorcycle and heading home from their farms when they were allegedly shot dead by the police.
The protesters explained that  police officers in the town were found of extorting and harassing the residents of the area at the checkpoints, despite order by the Commissioner of Police to dismantle all checkpoints in the state.
Recalled that the state commissioner of Police, Mr. Oyeyemi Oyediran had ordered all police road blocks and checkpoints to be dismantled since his assumption of office in the state.
An eyewitness, Funmi Olowogboye, recounted that the police stopped the deceased at the checkpoint on Saturday evening and while trying to halt an oncoming hilux van, the driver maneuvered to dodge the police and ran into the motorcycle.
Olowogboye lamented that the hilux driver crushed the three victims on the motorcycle where they parked on the instruction of the police officers, who wanted to collect money from them and they died on the spot.
Reacting, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami however dispelled the allegation of recklessness leveled against the police in the area, saying that the deceased flouted the traffic laws and incidentally had an accident.
“It was not due to the recklessness of the police officers, the deceased took one way and they had an accident. So there was no way the police could be reckless in a situation where there is a route to take and they took another one,” she added.