A 32-year-old dispatch rider, Emmanuel Jegede, died after suspected hoodlums allegedly pushed him off his motorcycle while trying to extort him along Ikotun-Idimu Road in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.
PunchMetro learnt the incident happened around 10am on Wednesday after the rider completed a delivery and was heading to another location.
According to witnesses, two suspected hoodlums at the Alhaja end of the road allegedly pushed him while he was riding.
“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,” a witness said.
Another eyewitness said the rider had earlier been involved in a minor collision with a tricycle rider. Residents and some youths, including the suspected hoodlums, settled the matter before the boys allegedly demanded money for their role. When the rider said he had none, they allegedly waited for him and pushed him as he rode away. The witness said the impact to his chest caused his instant death. The suspects reportedly fled before officers from the Idimu Police Division removed the body.
Lagos police spokesperson Abimbola Adebisi confirmed the incident, saying officers received two different accounts of what happened.
“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 police are investigating and seeking CCTV footage to establish what happened.
