Three persons including a fourteen year old boy were killed today at Igbotako, Oktitpupa Local Government Area of Ondo, following a riot by youths in the town. The police station in the town was vandalized and razed by the mob who were violently protesting the killing of the teenager and another person by a team of officers from the Okitikpupa Local Government Area, who were enforcing the no movement order of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise.
It was gathered that trouble started at the early hours of the day when the chairman of Okitipupa Local Government Council, Shola Piri, tried to stop a market session at Igbotako, a town under his council.
Eye witnesses account said that Piri’s intervention met with a stiff resistance from the people at the market even as he was bent on ensuring that the people complied with the exercise.
The council chairman was said to have sent his orderly to a nearby police station to secure reinforcement, but the situation at the market degenerated into a free for all fight.
It was further learnt that gunshots were fired by the team led by the chairman, killing two persons, one of them a 14-year old and the only son of his parents.
The death of the two persons became the reason for a mob action, but the reinforcement from the police rescued the chairman and his team, who were taken away from scene.
The people immediately turned their anger against the police and attacked the Igbotako police station, vandalising it and eventually torching it.
A source said that the clashes which spread across the town also resulted in the death of three other persons with a number of other people injured.
Soldiers were however called in to quell the mayhem which lasted for about six hours.
Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Issac Eke, confirmed the development and said that and that the situation was under control. [myad]
