LAGOS—IT was a black Sunday for several families in Lagos, yesterday, as no fewer than 40 persons allegedly perished in a multiple auto crash that occurred at a police check point near Otedola Housing Estate, a few metres away from Berger area on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The crash occurred after a trailer that was allegedly trying to evade Police arrest rammed into a stationary vehicle at the police check point and exploded.
The accident which occurred at about 12 noon, left over 19 vehicles including four commercial buses burnt beyond recognition while several people sustained varying degrees of burns.
The incident led to a massive gridlock, as vehicle plying the route pulled to a stop, for fear of being caught by the inferno.
Eyewitnesses who blamed the police for the accident, said the buses were fully loaded.
Lateef Ajala, who said he witnessed the incident, said: “See wetin police have caused because of N50,’’ adding that some 25 vehicles were involved in the multiple accident.
Ajala said the police had stopped some cars and buses on the bridge when a speeding trailer hit one of the vehicles from behind.
The fire created panic among motorists who hit other cars while trying to escape.
Stationary vehicle
Another eyewitness who gave his name as Muyiwa Adewale, a roadside mechanic, told Vanguard that the driver of the ill- fated trailer which was carrying sugar, disobeyed orders from policemen at the check point, and rammed into a stationary vehicle waiting to be cleared by the police. He said the trailer exploded instantly.
The witness said that flames from the exploded truck spread to other vehicles on the queue, and that it caught up with two fully-loaded Toyota Urvan commercial buses, leaving all its passengers burnt completely.
Area H Police Commander, Mr. Godwin Nwobodo, an assistant commissioner of police, who was at the scene, however, told Vanguard that “over 20 people were killed.’.
Firefighters from both the Federal Fire Service, Lagos State Fire Service and others from corporate organizations were at the scene to put off the inferno. Also at the scene were policemen from the Lagos State Police Command, officials of Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, etc.
The Lagos State Police spokesman, Frank Mba, who could not confirm the exact numbers of lives lost and vehicles burnt, said policemen, officials of the FRSC and LASTMA were at the scene to clear the debris to pave way for the free-flow of traffic.
Mba said: “The correct figure of total lives lost would be ascertained after the debris have been removed.”
He also dismissed as false, claims that a police check-point on the high way caused the crash, stressing: “I went to the accident scene myself. I also interviewed people and they said they did not see any policeman around the area.
They said they saw the driver screaming and throwing out his hand saying, ‘break don fail oh! Break don fail oh!!’ And that place is a slope. We don’t block the road in Lagos State. What we have is just stop-and-search, and at the time of the incident, there was none there.”
However, Vanguard Editor, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon, who drove past the scene shortly before the accident occurred, confirmed seeing the police road block. He said: “What immediately struck my attention was the unusual way the police used their van to vertically block two lanes of the expressway leaving only one lane free.
“I had expressed my worry to my wife, who was in the car with me, that what the police were doing was capable of causing a major accident.”
Angered by the incident, street urchins, popularly called Area Boys, made bonfires on the Ibadan-Lagos section of the expressway and the streets leading to Omole Estate and Sir Michael Otedola Housing Estate. The police, however, shot in the air to dispel the youths.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/08/15/40-persons-perished-in-multiple-auto-crash/

The crash occurred after a trailer that was allegedly trying to evade Police arrest rammed into a stationary vehicle at the police check point and exploded.

However, Vanguard Editor, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon, who drove past the scene shortly before the accident occurred, confirmed seeing the police road block. He said: “What immediately struck my attention was the unusual way the police used their van to vertically block two lanes of the expressway leaving only one lane free.

Angered by the incident, street urchins, popularly called Area Boys, made bonfires on the Ibadan-Lagos section of the expressway and the streets leading to Omole Estate and Sir Michael Otedola Housing Estate. The police, however, shot in the air to dispel the youths.

These men in black r definitely 4rm d pit of hell

The Nigeria Police!

Frank Mba is a shameless liar that place is blocked by policemen virtually every night. at times they pull an apc halfway across the express and the resultant traffic jam extends all the way to alausa.

Marvel Akpoyibo should be sacked for this he's obviously not on top of his job. and check out his clumsy attempts at cover-up. this country is more like a hell-reality than anything else. totally fu.cked up.

Pukkah:

What we have is just stop-and-search, and at the time of the incident, there was none there.”
However, Vanguard Editor, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon, who drove past the scene shortly before the accident occurred, confirmed seeing the police road block. He said: “What immediately struck my attention was the unusual way the police used their van to vertically block two lanes of the expressway leaving only one lane free.
“I had expressed my worry to my wife, who was in the car with me, that what the police were doing was capable of causing a major accident.”
Angered by the incident, street urchins, popularly called Area Boys, made bonfires on the Ibadan-Lagos section of the expressway and the streets leading to Omole Estate and Sir Michael Otedola Housing Estate. The police, however, shot in the air to dispel the youths.

Why do the Nigerian Police make declarative statements with a tone of finality on matters or crimes which they are yet to investigate? And by doing so, they make it look like it's second nature to them to tell outright lies and fabricate stories to cover-up themselves. Every user of that road knows that police check points are regular on the axis.

By the way, why should the police mount road blocks on express ways and not inside the cities? In spite of numerous and needless accidents and waste of human lives, combined with ignored directives from the police hierarchy, these kind of road blocks still persist.

My prediction is that those incorrigible police men will return to that spot in the next couple of days to continue milking people as usual.

I don't know about the accounts here being factual. According to eyewitnesses, there was indeed a police roadblock, which caused traffic to extend from that point back to the bridge. The trailer involved suffered brake failure and rammed into stationary vehicles at the road block not trying to evade the police.

The trailer didn't stop till it lost momentum after crushing a number of vehicles, after which the fire was initiated.

While not justifying the roadblock, the loss of control by the trailer is the likely cause of the accident.

the casualty count would have been less or not at all if the roadblock wasn't there. what exactly is the point of a roadblock at that point, which is inherently a dangerous spot because of the ijaye road turn-off and an improperly sited bus stop both within a few meters of each other. that accident occurred because the tanker had no room to maneuver. brakes fail everyday, there's nothing unusual to that.

what a waste of human lives. hisses and walks away!

SEE WHAT MENACE THEIR ILLEGAL CHECKPOINTS HAVE CAUSED?

Imagine their officials saying that they have no records of policemen assigned to that spot.

Can someone do sumtin about the Police?

And that place is a slope. We don’t block the road in Lagos State. What we have is just stop-and-search, and at the time of the incident, there was none there.”

officer mba, you lying sonofabitch, do you reside in some parallel universe?

may their soul rest in perfect peace

Police are really protecting people.

It is indeed a tragedy! But wait o! Why our papers dey lie?? They like blowing every little detail they've got out of proportion. I followed the news of this accident through out on TV yesterday (Sunday) on NN@4 and and other electronic media and no one reported a death toll as high as twenty!. I was indeed very shocked to see screaming headlines on our Nigerian dailies this morning on my way to work! 40 FEARED KILLED! 42 Lives Wasted!!! and so on! c'mon. . . what would they gain by doing this? Just tell the truth the way it is!

Even CNN reported 15 people dead! http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/08/16/nigeria.crash/#fbid=D6CF9HwdL4m&wom=false

May they Rest in peace!

This is really sadden, Police would shamelessly deny the contribution to this accident as they have done in the past, most police check points do not check anything apart from collecting money from commercial tansporters. They are all over the place, both in town and highways.

Area boys are cowards. Burning of tires means nothing. This can't happen in the south east or south south. They would have fearlessly given those so called police men a thorough beating.

I pity for this country.The Nigeria police is a national disgrace,

What are you expecting? This is Nigeria you are talking about /=

The police is not the problem , but the federal govt of nigeria, who have refused to build a ring road around lagos. It is the only way goods and service can get to the north and east quick. Lagos state cant afford that road.
Red line is the road, it even help winner chapel and redeemed , mountain of fire and others.

Frank Mba is a shameless liar that place is blocked by policemen virtually every night. at times they pull an apc halfway across the express and the resultant traffic jam extends all the way to alausa.

Meeehn, I pass that route nearly every night when I miss the Omlole gate deadline, I always ask myself what are these guys doing with an apc on an expressway just like that as if we are in Sudan/Somalia/Afghanistan. And to think of it, like you rightly said they use it to block two out of the three lanes thereby causing hold up sometimes till well past 10pm - 11 pm. And the murhaphukkers don't even give a hoot that they are causing such unnecessary  traffic.

bodsibobo:


Meeehn, I pass that route nearly every night when I miss the Omlole gate deadline, I always ask myself what are these guys doing with an apc on an expressway just like that as if we are in Sudan/Somalia/Afghanistan. And to think of it, like you rightly said they use it to block two out of the three lanes thereby causing hold up sometimes till well past 10pm - 11 pm. And the murhaphukkers don't even give a hoot that they are causing such unnecessary traffic.

and they won't give a hoot because they know that we -150million of us- are docile (MUGUs) as our evil genius IBB seems to have correctly labelled us.
we should be addressing a petition to the local councillors, state and federal legislators representing those affected by this road carnage.
but no we won't- RIP to the dead and we move on till the next avoidable accident.

philip0906:

These men in black r definitely 4rm d pit of hell

and i hope they all roast too

May God Accept the Souls of the dead ones.

Nigeria police no good but sometimes they are doing their best. They have nabbed a lot of criminal through the road block especially those ppl that carry human parts in their cars for ritual purposes .Well, is so sad that this terrible incident happen. May their soul rest in peace.

imagine the owner of the car, e go be like dream to them. God will save us

terrible
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debosky:

I don't know about the accounts here being factual. According to eyewitnesses, there was indeed a police roadblock, which caused traffic to extend from that point back to the bridge. The trailer involved suffered brake failure and rammed into stationary vehicles at the road block not trying to evade the police.

The trailer didn't stop till it lost momentum after crushing a number of vehicles, after which the fire was initiated.

While not justifying the roadblock, the loss of control by the trailer is the likely cause of the accident.

You can liken this to mounting an illegal police checkpoint in the evening on a stretch of the M25 or A13 Imagine the accidents waiting to happen, imagine the carnage


And the Police are still running free?

@becomerich3,

The police is not the problem , but the federal govt of nigeria, who have refused to build a ring road around lagos. It is the only way goods and service can get to the north and east quick. Lagos state cant afford that road.
Red line is the road, it even help winner chapel and redeemed , mountain of fire and others.

Oga Sir. Your map only goes from Lagos to Sagamu. What are the trucks to do on getting to Sagamu? Mount up with wings and fly to either the North or East?