Police probe conflicting accounts over dispatch rider’s death in Lagos

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By Esther Onyegbula

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The Lagos State Police Command has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of a 32-year-old dispatch rider, Emmanuel Jegede, following conflicting accounts of how he lost control of his motorcycle and died along the Ikotun-Idimu Road in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.

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The tragic incident occurred at about 10 a.m. on Wednesday after the rider reportedly completed a delivery and was heading to another destination.

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While eyewitnesses alleged that suspected hoodlums pushed the rider off his motorcycle during an attempt to extort money from him, the police said they were investigating multiple versions of the incident and had yet to establish the exact cause of the fatal crash.

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According to eyewitnesses, the deceased had earlier been involved in a minor collision with a tricycle rider after emerging from a street in the area.

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Residents and some youths in the vicinity reportedly intervened and amicably resolved the disagreement.

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However, the eyewitnesses alleged that some hoodlums who participated in settling the dispute demanded money from the dispatch rider as compensation for their intervention.

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One of the witnesses, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said the rider explained that he had no money on him, a response that allegedly angered the suspected hoodlums.

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The source said: “The man had just finished making a delivery and was on his way to another location. Earlier, while coming out of a street, he mistakenly hit a tricycle rider. People in the area, including the boys, intervened and settled the issue.

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“After everything was resolved, the boys demanded that he should settle them for helping him. He told them he did not have any money. They then crossed to the other side of the road and waited for him before pushing him in the process.”

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Another eyewitness alleged that as the rider approached the Alhaja end of Ikotun-Idimu Road, two suspected hoodlums suddenly shoved him while he was riding, causing him to lose control.

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“The rider was passing through the Ikotun-Idimu Road, and when he got to Alhaja, two hoodlums who usually stay around the junction tried to stop him and suddenly pushed him while he was in motion.

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“He lost control of the motorcycle, veered off the road and rammed into the median. By the time people got to the spot to rescue him, he had already died,” the witness said.

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The eyewitness further claimed that the impact of the crash caused the rider’s chest to hit a culvert with great force, leading to his instant death, while the suspected hoodlums reportedly fled the scene immediately after the incident.

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Operatives from the Idimu Police Division were later said to have arrived at the scene and evacuated the corpse.

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Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Abimbola Adebisi, said the police were investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash.

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She said: “A Federal Road Safety Corps officer came to the station and reported that he had seen a corpse at the scene of the accident. Our officers immediately visited the location and found the lifeless body of the victim alongside his motorcycle.

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“When the police spoke with people in the area, we got two different versions of what happened. One account claimed that a pedestrian was trying to cross the road, and the rider lost control while attempting to avoid hitting the person.

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“The second version was that some boys fled the scene immediately after the accident, raising suspicion that they might have attacked or pushed the rider before he crashed.”

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Adebisi added that detectives were making efforts to obtain CCTV footage from the area as part of ongoing investigations to establish what transpired before the fatal accident.

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She said the outcome of the investigation would determine the exact circumstances surrounding the rider’s death.

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