An irate mob on Wednesday set a criminal suspect ablaze in Oro town, Irepodun local government area of Kwara state, over his alleged perennial criminal activities.
It was gathered that the irate mob had besieged the Oro police station early Wednesday morning, where the suspect, simply identified as Femi, was being detained, demanding his release to them for “proper judgement”.
It was also gathered that the suspect had always been in and out of police detention for several criminal offences in the past.
Witnesses’ accounts said that the police refused to yield to demand of the people, resulting in melee, as they shot into the air to scare and disperse the growing number of unruly people.
The police action, it was gathered, infuriated the people in the community, as they descended on the police station, destroying everything on sight.
It was reported that the situation got tensed and uncontrollable for the policemen as the people later took out the suspect, set him ablaze and also burnt the police station.
Some sources in the community said that the mob action was carried out by some aggrieved commercial motorcycle operators in the area, who had reportedly lost a member on Tuesday night.
The sources said that the deceased motorcycle operator (Okada) had been tricked by some hoodlums, believed to include Femi, into a bush, collected his motorcycle and later killed him.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, was not available for comment after several attempts made to reach him.