People power was on display along Oba-
Adesida Road in Akure, the Ondo State
capital Thursday when petrol attendants
locked up two anti-riot policemen who
wanted to forcefully get fuel at MCR
petroleum station along the ever busy road.
The two anti-riot policemen, who were on
transit, entered the filling station that was
not dispensing fuel and demanded that they
should be given fuel – a request the
attendants declined.
One of the attendants, a lady, explained to
the policemen that they had not received
stock in the past three months and as such
had nothing to sell to them.
Not satisfied with the explanation, the
policemen, who were sergeants, demanded
to check the fuel dump of the filling station,
the request the attendants declined saying
they did not have the authority to open their
fuel dump to anyone.
It was in the process that the attendants and
the anti-riot policemen began to exchange
abusive words. The heated exchange finally
degenerated into fisticuffs with the
policemen eventually overpowering the
attendants.
An eye witness, who recorded the incident,
said one of the sergeants removed his belt
and used it to beat an attendant while
another attendant called for help from
members of the public.
One of the attendants ran into one of the
offices in the filling station with a policeman
pursuing her. On getting to the office, the
policemen gave the attendant a thorough
beating.
It was this unprovoked attack on the
attendants that prompted passers by to
mobilise and rescue them. One of the
attendants, who was rescued, then used a
padlock to lock up the policemen inside the
office.
The owner of the petrol station, Mr Tope
Omileye, who confirmed the incident,
insisted that they had not received stock in
the past three months but the policemen
were hell-bent on getting fuel from them.
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