The families of persons killed during Monday’s violence at the Naira and Kobo Garage in Ikire, Irewole Local Government Area of Osun State, have demanded an independent investigation into the incident, rejecting the account given by the police over the deaths.

The families, who addressed journalists in Osogbo on Friday, said they were dissatisfied with the explanation offered by the Osun State Police Command and insisted that a transparent inquiry was necessary to determine what actually happened at the busy garage.

They alleged that the victims were shot by police personnel, contrary to the police version that its operatives were responding to an attack by hoodlums at the location.

The development has opened a fresh dispute over the circumstances surrounding the deaths, with the families presenting eyewitness accounts which they said contradicted the official explanation released by the police.

The police had earlier said its operatives were deployed to the area following a distress call and came under attack from suspected hoodlums.

According to the command, two civilians were killed, while three police officers sustained injuries during the confrontation.

But the victims’ families said the account failed to answer critical questions about how the confrontation started and how the deceased came to be killed.

One of the witnesses presented by the families, Azeez Isiaka Idowu, said he was driving from Ibadan towards Bayelsa when he encountered the incident under the Ikire bridge.

Idowu said he was travelling in a Toyota Sequoia with a man seated beside him and the man’s wife in the rear seat when he slowed down at a speed breaker.

He claimed that a white Hilux vehicle marked “Police” approached from the direction of Ikire town and that shots were fired from the vehicle.

According to him, one of the passengers in his vehicle, whom he identified as a man sitting in the front seat, was struck by a bullet and died immediately.

“I did not witness any fight or anything happening before the Hilux came to that junction,” Idowu said, adding that the bullet entered the vehicle through the front windscreen.

He maintained that the occupants of the vehicle were not involved in any confrontation before the shooting occurred.

The witness’s account was supported by Fatai Sonde, a relative of one of the deceased, Nureni Sobowale, who said the victim had travelled to Ibadan shortly before his death in connection with his mother-in-law’s burial.

Sonde said the family was informed by Sobowale’s wife that he had been shot, adding that relatives who arrived in Ikire later heard that the deceased had been killed by police personnel.

He expressed disappointment over the subsequent description of Sobowale as a criminal and an alleged wanted person, saying the family knew him as a businessman and mechanic who was responsible for the upkeep of his household.

According to him, Sobowale was the breadwinner of his family and left behind a wife and five children.

“We want justice,” Sonde said, insisting that the family would not accept a narrative that portrayed the deceased as responsible for his own death without a thorough investigation.

The families also challenged the circumstances under which the police intervention was launched at the garage, arguing that eyewitnesses they consulted did not describe the area as being in a state of violence before the arrival of the police team.

They further questioned aspects of the police account concerning the alleged disarming of security personnel and the events that followed, saying several unanswered questions remained about the sequence of events.

Another contentious issue raised at the briefing was the alleged attempt to associate Senator Lere Oyewumi with the violence.

The families dismissed the allegation, arguing that the senator’s presence in the area was connected to efforts to calm tensions and prevent the situation from degenerating into wider communal violence.

Oyewumi, who also spoke on the controversy, denied having any role in the violence.

He said his intervention was motivated by the need to restore calm and discourage residents from taking the law into their own hands, adding that he also assisted security authorities, including the Commissioner of Police, in moving through some areas affected by the tension.

The senator described attempts to link him to the violence as misplaced and alleged that the focus should instead be on establishing the circumstances that led to the deaths.

For the families, however, the central issue remains the circumstances in which the victims lost their lives and whether the official account adequately reflects what happened at the scene.

They therefore appealed to the Osun State Government and other relevant authorities to constitute an independent commission of inquiry capable of examining evidence from all sides.

The proposed inquiry, they said, should hear from eyewitnesses, relatives of the deceased, injured persons, police officers involved in the operation and other residents who may have witnessed the incident.

They also called for the preservation and examination of relevant evidence, insisting that no party should be allowed to determine the outcome of an investigation in which it is itself a subject of allegations.

The families said they were not seeking vengeance but justice, stressing that only an impartial investigation could establish responsibility and prevent conflicting accounts from deepening tension in the community.

The police have meanwhile announced the arrest of suspects in connection with the violence and maintained that its personnel acted in response to an attack. (Nigerian Tribune)