An aura of shivering peace pervaded Akure, the Ondo state capital, on Wednesday, as no fewer than three persons were reportedly killed.
Those who died, as learnt, were two commercial motorcycle riders and a passenger.
Witnesses narrated that tragedy struck when a bus said to have been driven by a woman knocked down and killed a commercial motorcycle rider.
This resulted in a protest by other commercial motorcycle riders who blocked the major road, leading to a gridlock in the area.
The angry motorcycle riders were alleged to have made an attempt to mob the woman who knocked down their colleague.
They were, however, stopped by a yet-to-be-identified policeman attached to a filling station closed to the accident scene.
But the situation, later degenerated when the security operative mistakenly killed another commercial motorcyclist and a passenger.
The Police officer was said to have fired some gunshots into the air in a bid to escape from the mob who attacked him while attempting to rescue the woman, but the other two persons were accidentally hit.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the Ondo State Police Command, Funmilayo Odunlami, informed that the angry protesters later attacked the policeman who escaped from the scene with severe wounds.
“It was a road accident in which a woman driving a car hit and killed a commercial motorcyclist. Then a crowd gathered at the scene and was trying to mob the woman,” Odunlami explained.
The force publicist added, “The policeman then approached the scene to disperse the crowd and rescue the woman, but the angry crowd mobbed him. It was while he was trying to rescue himself that he shot into the air and incidentally, he misfired.”
The protesters had set a bonfire on the major highway before the arrival of a team of policemen attached to the Division A Police Headquarters in the city.
But, the officers were able to pacify the protesters and douse the tension while normalcy was restored in the area.
