Mob Action: Residents beat Okada rider to death in Ondo

Mob Action: Residents beat Okada rider to death in Ondo

Tension gripped residents of Ajipowo area of Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Thursday following the gruesome killing of a commercial motorcyclist, Tunde Ilesanmi, popularly known as “Dudu,” in a mob attack.

Eyewitnesses said Ilesanmi, a middle-aged okada rider, was accused of taking part in an overnight robbery with two other men who reportedly escaped.

He was beaten to death on the street by residents who insisted he was a criminal.

The incident took a dramatic twist when the deceased’s relatives arrived at the scene, insisting that he was not a robber but a well-known rider in the Ajipowo community.

Chaos erupted as hundreds of commercial motorcyclists, angered by the lynching of their colleague, stormed the area, blocking major roads in protest.

The streets were deserted for hours as fear gripped residents.

It took the intervention of the police to disperse the crowd and restore calm. The body of the deceased was later evacuated while normalcy gradually returned to the area