*Kills rider, 2 passengers
The fears expressed recently by Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu that motorcyclists plying ‘one-way’ traffic is a disaster waiting to happen, manifested on Saturday.
The manifestation was in the discovery of two corpses under an empty diesel truck at Barracks Bus Stop along the Lagos–Badagry Expressway by the State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).
On January 2, Sanwo-Olu, while on a visit to the Lagos State University, Ojo, for the unveiling of the Femi Gbajabiamila Conference Centre, had ordered the arrest of some commercial motorcyclists, including a soldier for riding against traffic, a practice known in local parlance as ‘one-way’.
The governor, who was visibly agitated at the audacity of the culprits, was seen in a video reprimanding and vowing to deal with the arrested riders and the passengers.
“You people are the ones causing this. Maybe I should arrest two of you and put you in the guardroom.
“You’re on Okada and they are taking one-way. Is it good? When you fall and you die, they’ll say the government killed you. What a shame,” the angry governor had said.
Confirming the recent incident, the Public Relations Officer of LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, said the accident occurred around the same location where the soldier was arrested.
The LASTMA PRO said the two corpses were riders on a motorcycle going against traffic.
He stated that the motorcycle rider died at a hospital near Satellite Town, while the other two passengers died on the spot.
Taofik added that the truck driver was said to have lost control of his vehicle due to a burst tyre, crashing into the motorcycle that was traveling against traffic along the expressway.
Following the collision, the truck driver fled, but the two dead bodies were removed by policemen from the Onireke police division, he added.
