A 32-year-old dispatch rider, Emmanuel Jegede, has lost his life after suspected hoodlums allegedly pushed him off his motorcycle while attempting to extort him along the Ikotun-Idimu Road in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the incident occurred on Wednesday around 10am after the rider completed a delivery and was heading to another destination.
On getting to the Alhaja end of the road, two suspected hoodlums who were planning to extort him suddenly pushed him while in motion.
An eyewitness who spoke to PUNCH Metro on the condition of anonymity, citing personal reasons, said the rider rammed into the median in the process and died on the spot.
“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.
“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 source disclosed.
Another eyewitness who spoke to PUNCH Metro said the deceased had earlier been involved in a minor collision with a tricycle rider after emerging from a street in the area.
Residents and some youths, including the suspected hoodlums, reportedly intervened and resolved the dispute amicably.
However, the hoodlums allegedly demanded money from the dispatch rider for mediating the matter.
The eyewitness, who pleaded not to be named for security reasons, said the rider explained that he had no money on him, adding that the response angered the suspected hoodlums.
He 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.
“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.”
The source noted that his chest hit the culvert with great force, leading to his instant death.
It was gathered that the hoodlums also fled the scene immediately after the incident.
The policemen from the Idimu Police Division were later said to have arrived at the scene and evacuated the corpse.
As of the time of filing this report, the identity of the deceased has yet to be established.
When contacted on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Abimbola Adebisi, confirmed the incident.
She said investigations were ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the rider’s death.
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.
“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.
“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.
She added that the police were investigating the incident and working to obtain CCTV footage from the area to determine exactly what happened.
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