Two separate accidents on Sunday, during Eid-il-Fitr, in Ogijo, Ogun State, and the Maryland area of Lagos State, resulted in two fatalities and left 11 others injured.
During a phone conversation (with The Punch), the spokesperson for the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, Babatunde Akinbiyi, reported that the Ogijo accident happened around 6 am on Sunday.
According to Akinbiyi, the accident occurred when a truck suffered a tyre burst and crashed into a Mazda passenger bus, leading to one fatality and injuring 11 others.
He mentioned that emergency responders took the injured victims to a nearby hospital for treatment.
He stated, “A fatal accident occurred at Five Star area in Ogijo at about 6:15hrs on Sunday. It involved a six-tyre truck with registration number GBE 243 XB and a Mazda bus with registration number KSF 542 YG.
“Thirteen people were involved in the accident, including two persons in the truck and 11 persons in the Mazda bus. One person was recorded dead while 11 persons were injured.
“According to the truck driver, the accident was caused by his truck due to a sudden burst of his front right tyre that led the truck to lose control and hit a stationed 18-seater Mazda bus that was picking passengers from the rear.”
He added that the accident caused a traffic jam, but emergency responders, including TRACE, the police, and officials from the Federal Road Safety Corps, managed to restore order.
In another incident, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Adebayo Taofiq, confirmed that an accident involving two mini-buses near Maryland resulted in the death of a pedestrian.
Taofiq explained that a mini-bus lost control due to excessive speed, colliding with another mini-bus and hitting a pedestrian who was waiting to board a vehicle.
He stated, “The fatal collision involved two Suzuki mini commercial buses (Korope) bearing registration numbers EPE 279 YJ and BDG 558 YG.
“Preliminary inquiries indicate that one of the vehicles, owing to reckless over-speeding, veered out of control and violently rammed into a stationary mini-bus before mercilessly mowing down the unsuspecting pedestrian.”
He further mentioned that emergency responders, including LASTMA officials and personnel from the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit, “undertook the dignified evacuation of the deceased’s remains to the General Hospital, Ikeja.”
Reacting to the incident, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, extended condolences to the victim’s family.
Speaking through Taofiq, Giwa emphasized the importance of regular vehicle maintenance to prevent avoidable accidents and loss of life.
“Ensuring road safety is a collective responsibility. Indiscriminate speeding and flagrant disregard for traffic laws constitute an existential threat to public safety. I implore all motorists to strictly operate within legal parameters to avert needless loss of human lives,” he stated.
