POLICE operating at a checkpoint on the border or Oyo and Osun states got a rude shock on Sunday when a passenger suspected to have been a victim of the coronavirus pandemic died right in front of them.
In an unprecedented development, police operatives and medical personnel along the Osun/Oyo border intercepted the car conveying the sick man, who died while being checked. The vehicle, which left Ibadan earlier in the day, was stopped at Odo Oba, an entry point between both states when the incident happened.
While being interrogated, one of the occupants suddenly started coughing and died on the spot. Raji Kamoru, the chairman of the Iwo Local Government Area, said policemen and health personnel stationed at the checkpoint were not convinced with the explanation of the occupants of the vehicle, when they stopped them.
He added: “They stopped the vehicle coming from Ibadan and one of the passengers started coughing and he died. The security men asked them some questions and they could not give a satisfactory explanation about where they were going.”
Yemisi Opalola, a spokeswoman for the Osun State Police Command, said a Mazda 323 car with number plate KFS 409 EH, driven by one Ismaila Ademola, was heading towards Iwo from Ibadan. She added that the medical team at the checkpoint suspected the deceased passenger might be a Covid-19 patient.
“The security team led by Iwo Local Government chairman had to escort the vehicle back to Iyana Offa and handed them over to a police division in the Oyo Command,” she added. According to Ms Opalola, the Osun State police commissioner Johnson Kokumo, had directed closer monitoring of boundary communities to ensure total compliance with the lockdown ordered by the state government.
