Four feared dead as truck rams into crowd in Ogun

A brewery truck with registration number LSD667XQ on Tuesday rammed into a mammoth crowd at the Tollgate axis of Lagos-Abeokuta express way, just before Sango in Ogun State, injuring many and leaving four persons feared dead.

When Nigerian Tribune Metro passed through the tollgate area around 2pm on Tuesday, the usual crowd of hawkers and road side sellers were seen running in different directions as the fully loaded brewery truck swerved in different directions, while the driver desperately tried to exert the brake system which had apparently failed.

The truck which was coming from the Sango-Ota end of the highway, rammed into some road side hawkers and some other people waiting to board commercial buses towards Lagos st the Tollgate bus-stop, leaving about four people lying unconscious on the road.

The truck was eventually stopped in its stride by a stationery BRT bus that was parked at the Tollgate bus-stop.

It took the quick intervention of men of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) to disperse the already charged crowd that were threatening to lynch the driver of the brewery truck.

The injured and unconscious victims were later taken away under heavy security presence by a Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) hilux truck.
Speaking to Nigerian Tribune Metro, some eyewitnesses wondered why government at all levels have allowed hawking and trading activities to persist at the Tollgate bus-stop in Ogun State.

According to Mr. Wale Erubami who witnessed the accident, it is time the local authorities do something about persistent crowding at the Tollgate axis of the Lagos-Abeokuta express way.

“There is no time you pass through Tollgate and don’t see crowd of people. Aside the people trying to board a bus, hawkers and motorcycle riders popularly known as Okada riders also compound the scenario here daily.”

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“This ought not to be so because the road is sloppy downward, coming in from Sango to Tollgate. Even from Ota to Tollgate, its also sloppy downwards. So any articulated vehicle that is coming to Tollgate bus-stop from Sango or Ota, and experience brake system failure, automatically leaves death in is trail.”

It is high time government does something about the crowding at Tollgate bus-stop in Ogun State,” Mr. Erubami stated.

When contacted, the Head of Local Government Administration, Ado-Odo Ota Local Government, Mrs. Ayorinde lamented that efforts of the local government authorities to sanitise perennial crowding at the Tollgate bus-stop has not worked because the hawkers and traders keep coming back after being chased away.