Governor Sanwo-Olu vow heavy sanction as another container crash in Lagos

The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has vowed to prosecute a truck driver and its owner over an accident which claimed nine lives at Ojuelegba, in the Surulere area of the state.

No fewer than nine persons were crushed to death when the container on an articulated truck fell on a minibus at Ojuelegba on Sunday.

Sanwo-Olu, in a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, on Monday, directed relevant agencies to enforce laws guiding truck operations in the state.

The governor also identified some of the victims in the accident and urged the police to speed up investigations into the matter.

The statement read in part, “The Lagos State Government commiserates with the families who lost their loved ones in the Ojuelegba truck accident on Sunday, January 29, 2023.

“Nine persons died in the accident. Identified victims are Miss Blessing Isioma; Abdurahman Okoya Sunday; Felix John Ifeanyi, 40; Olatokunbo Basirat King, 49.

“Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, after receiving an interim report of the incident, has directed the police to speed up their investigation of the matter. Besides, he has given the following directives:

The driver of the truck and the owner, who are in police custody, must be prosecuted; Ministry of Transportation and Nigeria Ports Authority should meet urgently to find a lasting solution to the menace of falling trucks; and all the laws governing the operations of trucks and related vehicles must be enforced with more vigour and diligence.”

The state recalled that a truck driver, Sodiq Okanlawon, and the owner of the truck, Wasiu Lekan, were sentenced to life imprisonment for causing the death of three people on July 26, 2020, at Ilasamaja, on the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway.

The state Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, on Monday, said the state government would create barricades around the Ojuelegba Bridge.

Meanwhile, a day after the Ojuelegba incident, another container was reported to have fallen in the Iyana Ipaja area on Monday.

The spokesperson for the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Taofiq Adebayo, in a statement, noted that the fallen 40-foot container occupied 90 per cent of the road.

It said, “A 40ft container laden truck fell at Sawmill inward Dopemu under bridge; it’s occupying 90 per cent of the road. Our men are on ground doing the needful as effort is on for recovery.”