By John Umeh
The Ondo State Police Command has firmly refuted reports suggesting that a vehicle in the convoy of Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, was involved in the death of a young girl in Akure on Thursday, April 18. Authorities described the allegations as both false and misleading.
Senator Tinubu 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 medical scrubs—to midwives across the South-West region.
In a statement released by the Command’s spokesperson, DSP Olufunmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, the police condemned the report published by Sahara Reporters, asserting it lacked factual and credible backing.
“The attention of the Ondo State Police Command has been drawn to a false and misleading report… alleging that the convoy of the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, was responsible for the tragic death of a young girl in Akure,” the statement read.
According to the police, eyewitness accounts and preliminary investigations identified the actual cause of the incident: a hit-and-run driver operating an unregistered white Lexus vehicle, unaffiliated with the First Lady’s motorcade.
A witness reportedly pursued the fleeing vehicle by motorcycle immediately after the collision, which occurred in the Oba-Ile area of Akure. Multiple eyewitnesses and the victim’s parents corroborated this account, further distancing the First Lady’s convoy from the tragedy.
The police also addressed a factual error in the initial report, clarifying that the deceased child was seven years old—not nine, as reported by Sahara Reporters—according to information provided by her parents.
The Commissioner of Police in Ondo State has visited the grieving family and assured them of a full and transparent investigation into the incident.
“At no point was the First Lady’s convoy involved in this tragedy,” the statement emphasized.
