Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke
- as survivor fingers Police as alleged source of fatal shots
By John Dike, Osogbo
Families of the four persons killed during the violence at Naira and Kobo Garage in Ikire, Irewole Local Government Area of Osun State, have rejected the account given by the police on the incident, accusing the security agency of attempting to shift blame to the victims and shield officers whose actions, they alleged, contributed to the deaths.
The families, at a press conference in Osogbo on Friday, August 28, demanded an independent investigation into the incident, insisting that the police command could not credibly investigate allegations involving its own officers.
The press conference was addressed with the support of Senator Lere Oyewumi, Director-General of the Adeleke Campaign Organisation, who the families said had played a significant role in calming tensions in Ikire after the incident and preventing the violence from degenerating into wider communal reprisals.
The incident, which occurred on Monday, August 24, at the Naira and Kobo Garage in Ikire, left four persons dead and several others injured.
The police subsequently gave an account of the incident, announced arrests and commenced investigations into the circumstances surrounding the violence.
But the families, who said they were speaking on behalf of the victims and other affected persons, strongly disputed the police narrative, describing it as incomplete and one-sided.
They said several critical questions remained unanswered and demanded that an independent body be allowed to examine the events leading to the shootings, the conduct of the police officers deployed to the area, the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the events that followed.
At the centre of the families’ concerns was the presence of the Divisional Police Officer at the motor park and what they described as the unexplained circumstances that preceded the shooting.
According to them, the Naira and Kobo Garage was peaceful before the arrival of the police team.
They therefore questioned why the DPO went to the garage in the first place, what information prompted the police presence and what transpired between the arrival of the officers and the shooting.
The families argued that these questions were fundamental to understanding how the incident occurred and should not be dismissed in an investigation.
They also challenged the police account that armed officers were allegedly disarmed by civilians.
The families asked how civilians at a motor park could have overpowered six fully armed police officers if there was no prior confrontation or escalation.
They said the circumstances surrounding the alleged disarming of the officers should be subjected to independent scrutiny rather than accepted solely on the basis of the police account.
The group alleged that the police investigation appeared more focused on protecting the DPO and other officers than on establishing the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
They consequently demanded that the investigation be removed from the police command and conducted by an independent authority.
According to them, the objective should be to establish the truth rather than to protect any individual or institution.
Survivor gives account of shooting
One of the strongest elements of the families’ presentation was the testimony of a surviving driver, Azeez Isiaka Idowu, who said he witnessed the shooting while travelling through Ikire.
Idowu alleged that the fatal shots came from a police Hilux vehicle.
Recounting his experience, he said he was travelling from Ibadan to Bayelsa in a Toyota Sequoia with a man and his wife when they approached the Ikire bridge.
He said he slowed down at the speed breaker under the bridge and suddenly noticed a white Hilux vehicle marked “Police” approaching from the direction of Ikire town.
According to him, the officers in the vehicle opened fire.
“I was coming from Ibadan, going to Bayelsa. I was driving a Sequoia Jeep. We were only three in the vehicle, myself, the husband in the front and his wife at the back seat,” Idowu said.
He explained that he slowed down at the speed breaker and then saw the police vehicle.
“I suddenly sighted a white Hilux with Police written on its door coming from Ikire town to the junction. They started shooting from the Hilux and by the time I looked up, I saw that the man sitting in front of the car had been hit by a bullet, and he died immediately,” he alleged.
Idowu said he did not witness any fight or confrontation before the shooting.
“I did not witness any fight or anything happening before the Hilux came to that junction. The gunshot came from the policemen inside the white Hilux. The bullet came inside from the front glass of the vehicle,” he said.
His account, the families argued, raised further questions about the source of the bullets that killed the victims and the sequence of events immediately before the shootings.
They called for ballistic examination of the bullets and other forensic evidence that could help determine the source of the shots.
They also called for the examination of vehicles involved in the incident, medical reports, post-mortem findings where available, eyewitness statements and any video or photographic evidence that may assist investigators.
The families accused the police of attempting to present the victims as responsible for the violence.
They said such an approach was unfair, particularly because some of those killed could no longer speak for themselves.
They argued that the families and the public deserved answers about what happened before, during and after the shooting.
According to them, an investigation should not begin with a predetermined conclusion but should examine all possible explanations and allow evidence to determine responsibility.
They said the deaths should not be reduced to a clash between police officers and civilians without establishing the precise sequence of events.
The families also insisted that the conduct of the security officers present at the scene should be investigated alongside the actions of civilians allegedly involved in the incident.
Families defend Senator Oyewumi
The group also took strong exception to what they described as attempts to link Senator Lere Oyewumi to the violence.
They said the senator was not responsible for the incident and instead intervened to prevent the situation from escalating after the killings.
The families described Oyewumi as a community leader who helped calm residents at a particularly tense period.
They alleged that the senator appealed to residents not to resort to self-help and assisted security authorities in navigating some of the troubled areas when tension was high.
According to them, his intervention helped prevent the situation from turning into a wider communal conflict.
“We declare that Senator Oyewumi is not in any way involved in the matter. His intervention saved the day as it prevented Ikire from being engulfed in far more serious communal reprisal attacks,” the families said.
They therefore described any attempt to implicate him in the incident as unfortunate.
The families further alleged that pressure had been mounted on an unnamed suspect to make statements linking Oyewumi to the violence.
They described the alleged attempt as unethical and warned that such a development, if established, could compromise the integrity of the investigation.
They called on investigators to resist political or institutional pressure and concentrate on establishing the facts surrounding the killings.
The families also renewed their call on the Osun State Government to expedite the establishment of the commission of inquiry recently proposed by the government to investigate the violence and other related issues.
They said the proposed commission should be broad enough to examine not only the immediate circumstances of the killings but also the events that preceded the violence and the subsequent security response.
They argued that a judicial or independent inquiry would provide an opportunity for all sides to present evidence without fear or favour.
The families said witnesses should be allowed to testify, victims’ relatives should be heard, police officers involved should be questioned and available documentary, medical, ballistic and video evidence should be examined.
“We therefore call for independent investigation. We call on the state government to fast-track the setting up of the commission of enquiry to look into this and other related issues,” they said.
They maintained that the issue was bigger than the interests of individual families because it concerned public confidence in security institutions and the protection of citizens’ lives.
Why independent investigation matters
The families argued that allowing the same institution whose officers were being accused of wrongdoing to lead the investigation could create a credibility problem.
They said the police had a responsibility to investigate crimes but maintained that allegations against serving officers required an independent mechanism capable of guaranteeing impartiality.
They urged the government to ensure that no evidence was suppressed and that no suspect or witness was intimidated.
The families also demanded that those found culpable should face the law regardless of whether they were civilians, political actors or security personnel.
They said the objective of the investigation should not be to vindicate one side but to establish what actually happened.
The police have previously presented their own account of the Ikire incident and said investigations had resulted in the arrest of suspects.
The command’s position differs significantly from the account presented by the families.
While the police have described circumstances involving civilians and security personnel and announced arrests as part of their investigation, the families have rejected key elements of that narrative.
The conflicting accounts have therefore heightened calls for an independent inquiry capable of examining evidence from both sides.
Families seek justice, not retaliation
The families said their demand for an independent investigation should not be interpreted as a call for retaliation against police officers or any other group.
Rather, they said they wanted justice for those who died and accountability for anyone found to have acted unlawfully.
They appealed to residents of Ikire and the wider public to remain calm and allow the investigative process to determine responsibility.
They also urged witnesses with relevant information to make such evidence available to investigators.
According to them, the truth surrounding the incident must be established in a manner that would prevent further violence and restore confidence among residents.
They said justice would require a transparent process in which no individual would be presumed guilty or protected because of his position.
Questions demanding answers
The families said several questions remained unanswered, including:
What exactly happened before the police arrived at Naira and Kobo Garage?
Why did the DPO go to the garage at the time of the incident?
Who ordered the deployment of the officers?
What triggered the shooting?
Were there any confrontations before the shots were fired?
Who fired the bullets that killed the victims?
How were six allegedly armed police officers supposedly disarmed by civilians?
What happened to the weapons allegedly taken from the officers?
Were the weapons recovered and subjected to forensic examination?
What do medical and ballistic evidence reveal about the deaths?
Were vehicles involved in the incident examined for bullet impacts?
Are there eyewitnesses whose accounts have not been included in the police narrative?
Were CCTV recordings, photographs or other visual evidence available around the scene?
Were all parties, including the police officers involved, subjected to the same level of investigation?
They said these questions could only be satisfactorily answered through an investigation that was independent, transparent and evidence-based.
The families said the tragedy had inflicted deep pain on relatives of the deceased and the wider Ikire community.
They appealed to the government to support the affected families and ensure that the injured received appropriate attention.
They also urged political leaders, traditional authorities, community leaders, youth organisations and security agencies to work together to prevent further violence.
They said the most important step towards restoring peace was to establish the truth about what happened.
The families maintained that justice would not only provide closure to the relatives of the four victims but could also help prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.
They therefore urged the Osun State Government to move quickly on its proposed commission of inquiry and ensure that its terms of reference covered all relevant aspects of the Ikire violence.
As the conflicting accounts continue to generate public concern, the families said they remained committed to pursuing justice through lawful means.
They appealed to the authorities to ensure that the deaths of the four persons did not become another unresolved incident and that every person found responsible, regardless of status or affiliation, would be held accountable under the law.
