The Ondo State Police Command has debunked reports alleging that a vehicle in the convoy of Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, was responsible for the death of a young girl in Akure on Thursday.
The First Lady was in Ondo State for the launch of the Renewed Hope Initiative Health Programme and the distribution of 10,000 professional kits, including Crocs and scrubs, to midwives in the South-West.
In a statement issued by the command’s spokesperson, DSP Olufunmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, the police described the report, published by Sahara Reporters, as false, misleading, and lacking in factual accuracy.
“The attention of the Ondo State Police Command has been drawn to a false and misleading report… alleging that a vehicle in the First Lady’s convoy was responsible for the death of a young girl in Akure,” the statement read.
“Eyewitness accounts and preliminary investigations have confirmed that the accident was caused by a hit-and-run driver operating an unregistered white Lexus vehicle, not by any vehicle connected to the First Lady’s convoy.”
The police further stated that a witness who saw the incident pursued the fleeing vehicle on a motorcycle immediately after the accident, which occurred in the Oba-Ile area of Akure. Several eyewitnesses and the victim’s parents corroborated the account.
The command also clarified that contrary to the report, the deceased child was seven years old—not nine—according to her parents.
“The publication not only misrepresented facts but showed a clear disregard for the sensitivity of the issue,” the statement added.
The Commissioner of Police in Ondo State has since visited the grieving family and assured them of a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident.
“At no point was the First Lady’s convoy involved in this tragedy,” the police reiterated.
