Makinde calls for calm as boy killed while convoy passes Oyo community

A young girl was on Thursday reportedly crushed to death by a car close to the venue of the Peoples Democratic Party rally at Oja Igbo area of Ogbomoso.

The accident which reportedly involved a Toyota Matrix caused a commotion at the rally which was attended by Governor Seyi Makinde to round off the campaign for the Oyo State local government election slated for Saturday.

Relatives of the girl stormed the venue of the rally with her corpse to demand justice. There were different accounts of how the accident happened. While some claimed a car in the governor’s convoy crushed the girl to death, some said the accident happened shortly before Makinde’s convoy got to the scene of the accident. Reacting to the allegation, Makinde tweeted on his Twitter handle that the car was not part of his convoy and commiserated with the bereaved family.

Makinde tweeted, “I received with deep concern the report that my convoy ran over a child on our way to Ogbomoso, earlier today. Our preliminary investigation revealed that the child was hit by an individual driving a Toyota Matrix car who lost control of his vehicle. He was not part of my convoy.”

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Taiwo Adisa, in a statement said, “The governor’s convoy had arrived at the Oja-gbo Town Hall venue of the rally, with the governor and his entourage settled in, and it was while the programme was ongoing that some residents stormed the venue of the event with the corpse of the child.

“It is common knowledge that Toyota Matrix vehicles are not part of any governor’s convoy in Nigeria. While we await further details on the identity of the driver of the ill-fated car from security agencies, the people of Ogbomoso should remain calm and rest assured that the government will get to the root of this matter.”