THE entire workers of Ibadan South-West Local Government Area of Oyo State were left mourning, on Friday, after a tipper truck crushed their colleague a few metres away from the office headquarters, located off Moshood Abiola Way, Ibadan.
The victim, identified simply as Banji, was said to have met his fate around 12.00 p.m. about two minutes after leaving the premises on his motorcycle, marked: OF 355 AAB, to attend to an unspecified business at Dugbe.
Witnesses said the victim had attempted to avoid two commercial motorcycles, which occupants were just getting up from the ground by the side of the road after an accident, only to be caught in front of the speeding lorry, with registration number: XB 495 AKN, which immediately ran him over.
By the time Saturday Tribune got to the scene, the body, which was said to have been mangled, had been evacuated to the General Hospital, Adeoyo mortuary.
Asked for details about the status of the victim in the local council, all one of his colleagues could volunteer was: “He was in “Property.”
At the scene of the accident, a crowd comprising Banji’s colleagues and other sympathisers fumed over the alleged escape of the driver of the lorry and confronted policemen who attempted to evacuate the vehicle to Iyaganku Police Station.
However, some people among the crowd claimed that the driver of the lorry decided to escape from the scene to avoid lynching and report himself to the police, but the information could not be substantiated as of the time of filing this report.
There was traffic jam while the confrontation between the council workers and the policemen lasted, with the lorry occupying a considerable space on the road.
A vehicle belonging to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) carrying some officials was seen for a brief moment at the scene.
The local council staffers, who claimed they had misgivings about the plan of the policemen to take custody of the lorry, later took it to the council’s premises and “impounded” it.
At the council’s premises, some workers, especially the women, wailed, while others discussed the next line of action after they learned that the authorities of Adeoyo hospital refused to admit Banji’s body, demanding for police report.
People also gathered round trying frantically to pacify some relatives of Banji, who had rushed to the council to confirm the news of their kin’s death.
“We just cracked jokes together before he told me he was going to Dugbe. I can’t believe Banji is dead. This is too cruel,” one of the victim’s colleagues lamented.
Another said: “I was not comfortable with the hurried manner in which he tried to leave the premises. It was like I could feel an omen. I even tried to get him to calm down by taking the keys he was holding from him, but he took them back from me and left.”
Meanwhile, No fewer than four persons lost their lives in auto crashes in Ibadan, Oyo State on Friday.
Saturday Tribune learnt that two people while on motorcycle ran into a moving trailer and they were crushed to death in Musfala area, Muslim, in Oluyole Local government Area of the state.
Also, a motorcyclist was crushed to death along Ring Road, Ibadan by a moving truck.
The Federal Road Safety Corps Oluyole Unit Commander, Sanya Adeoye who confirmed the two incidents said though he could not confirm the number of those killed at Musfala, he said that motorcyclist was killed at Ring Road.
He said that the wreckages had been removed at the time officials of the FRSC got to the scene of the incidents.
Also, tragedy struck at Owode Estate area of Apata-Ganga, in Ido Local Government Area of the state when a 35-year-old man, identified as Fatai (a.k.a Happy Day), was crushed to death by a truck while rushing to meet his boss.
- SATURDAY TRIBUNE
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