Perhaps no other bridge in Nigeria has recorded more road crashes than the Otedola Bridge on the outskirt of Lagos along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Weekly, sometimes daily, crashes, most times, very bloody and fatal, have become so regular, that commuters now have their hearts in their mouth once their vehicles approach the axis. But why is this so and how can it be stemmed? Gboyega Alaka writes.
It was never officially named Otedola Bridge. However, by virtue of its proximity to the Lagos State medium housing estate located right opposite the bridge and named after a former Lagos State Governor, Sir Michael Otedola, father of billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, it naturally assumed the name. Inevitably, the volume of auto crashes, gridlocks and other unpalatable incidences recorded weekly, sometimes daily on the bridge; meant the media had to unwittingly adopt a descriptive name for it, and Otedola naturally came handy.
Welcome to Lagos bridge of death
For every Nigerian newspaper reader or news junkie, the name ‘Otedola Bridge’ unveiled in 1978 as part of the newly completed Lagos-Ibadan Expressway should ring a bell, albeit for negative reasons. Hardly a week passes without it featuring in the news. And the headlines are always as horrific as they come: “Three family members die, two rescued in Otedola bridge autocrat”; “Eight injured as truck crashes on Otedola Bridge”; “Two serious accidents rock Otedola Bridge in Lagos. Fully loaded trucks overturn”; “Truck rams into two cars on Otedola Bridge”; LASTMA rescues baby in multiple vehicle collision on Otedola Bridge”; “Another gridlock hits Otedola Bridge as truck, commercial bus crash in Lagos”; “Otedola bridge fire: Drivers, traders, mechanics lament devastating losses…”
One could go on and on and on. Hundreds of lives have been lost, many maimed for life and vehicles and properties destroyed.
In one of such incidents reported on March 12, 2025, titled: “Otedola bridge fire: Drivers, traders, mechanics lament devastating losses”, The Nation reporter captured a grim aftermath.
On Tuesday March 11, 2025, a devastating fire had erupted after a 30-tonne gas tanker overturned on the bridge, fell over and exploded. That inferno did not only claim lives – LASEMA (the Lagos state Emergency Management Agency) reported two dead (unofficial report claimed four); it claimed vehicles, moving and some others stationed at mechanics’ workshops underneath the bridge and nearby.
Altogether, between 12 and 15 automobiles were destroyed alongside eight tricycles and several buildings, including a church (partially), a dental clinic and a plaza.
A survivor, George Uchenna, a driver, recounted his narrow escape: “I parked with my boy when the tanker fell. We managed to run, but about ten bus drivers at the scene didn’t make it.”
Among the victims was Baba Rotimi, a well-known mechanic trapped by the spreading gas before the fire ignited, leaving him with no room to escape. Rumour had it that he was trying to rescue a customer’s vehicle.
A member of nearby Redeemed Christian Church of God (Fulfillment Centre) Paul Samuel, narrated how the raging flame consumed the church’s gate (but mercifully spared the church auditorium); while the plaza was consumed almost in its entirety.
Another eyewitness, Tosin, a mechanic revealed that a food vendor’s gas explosion worsened the raging fire, causing it to further consume four parked cars.
Most horrendous was the death of a newly wedded couple: Chiedozie Okoye, a banker with Zenith Bank and his wife, Joan Chidalu, an America-based nurse, who had only been married weeks earlier in the inferno.
And the tragedies go back in time. On June 28, 2018, what may go down as the most horrendous yet happened on the same bridge when a Mack truck tanker carrying a 33,000-liter of petrol heading out of Lagos suffered a brake failure, fell over and spilled its content on the busy expressway.
The explosion that ensued created a massive inferno that quickly engulfed numerous oncoming vehicles, trapping their drivers and passengers.
Official reports confirmed 12 deaths including a minor, while four survivors suffered severe burns. Most of the victims were burnt beyond recognition, with families needing DNA analysis to identify their relatives.
In all, 54 vehicles were utterly burnt, including the tanker, five buses and 45 private cars.
That incident caused the Lagos State government to come up with stricter regulations for articulated vehicles, including restricted movement hours for tankers (from 9pm to 6am). Unfortunately, that law soon became inactive, as motorists reverted to old ways and articulated vehicles resumed plying highways at their whims.
Speaking on non-compliance to that regulation when confronted with the rascality of articulated vehicles and their wanton waste of lives and destruction of properties in an interview not long ago, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Government on Transportation, Mr. Sola Giwa, said it was a regulation and not a law. He also stated that it was necessitated by the events of the time, and that it has never been reversed. He, however, stated that the issue of insecurity, as cited by the drivers, necessitated a relaxing of its enforcement.
“It was a regulation, not a law. … At that time, the regulation was a necessity, and nobody has reversed it. However, we also noticed the issue of security which came up, where drivers and owners came here complaining that they are being attacked while moving at night. So as a listening government, we started looking for other ways of regulating them, such as use of weigh bridges and stopping them from point of entry into the state. …As a government, we have to continuously think outside the box and evolve.”
More horrendous stories
The effect of that non-compliance has been more horrendous accidents, blood spilled and properties and valuables consumed, with incidences Otedola Bridge, leading the pack.
On November 5 (2025), eight people were severely injured and hospitalised when a truck rammed into eight vehicles on the Otedola Bridge section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The truck, heading out of Lagos, was said to have rammed into two 18-seater buses, one minibus, and five cars.
Just last week, January 23, 2026 to be exact, the bridge again witnessed a multiple crash in the early hours, leading to a gridlock that lasted long hours. Muyiwa Hassan, a photographer with The Nation newspaper told this reporter the horrific story of how he spent six hours on a journey that should at best take him 45miniutes between his Fatai Atere office and Magboro residence.
Not surprisingly, the accident claimed one life, the driver of one of the trucks.
Traffic authorities in Lagos said the principal incident involved a violent collision between two heavy-duty trailers, one laden with sand and the other conveying granite. Both drivers were said to be recklessly contending for right of way when tragedy struck.
The Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) Adebayo Taofiq said in a statement: “The driver of the second trailer was rescued alive and remarkably, escaped unhurt.”
“Cumulatively, the incidents obstructed nearly 80 per cent of the carriageway, thereby compelling the implementation of extensive traffic control and diversion measures,” LASTMA said.
“Consequently, motorists travelling inward Lagos from the Mowe, Kara Bridge and Redemption Camp axis were redirected through the Ojodu –Olole route, connecting Agidingbi, Coca-Cola, Secretariat, and 7-Up to enable continued movement towards Gbagada or Ojota with minimal inconvenience.”
The Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command posted that a secondary accident occurred as a result of the overturned truck.
“Two serious accidents have occurred at Otedola Bridge, inward Lagos. In the first incident, a fully loaded truck overturned, spilling its consignments onto the road and covering about 90 per cent of the carriageway.”
It stated that the accident, which happened inward Secretariat along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, left thousands of people stranded on the ever-busy highway.
On December 10, 2025, three family members were confirmed dead while two other victims sustained injuries following a multi-vehicle collision at the Secretariat towards Otedola Bridge, along Lagos–Ibadan Expressway.
Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) reported that the three family members were a father, mother and their young child.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the incident involving three vehicles (Audi, Toyota Camry & Toyota Corolla) occurred when a heavily loaded truck travelling at excessive speed violently hit one of the vehicles from the rear, causing it to lose control and collide with two other moving vehicles.
On October 30, the bridge recorded another crash, leaving one person injured. That incident occurred just hours after a deadly crash on Kara Bridge, which left several people dead and caused gridlock on the Expressway.
A truck reportedly suffered brake failure, ramming into a vehicle in front and triggering a chain collision involving three other cars.
The crash caused severe gridlock on both sides of the bridge, causing commuters to spend hours in traffic.
Baby rescued unhurt
On November 20, 2025, the bridge yet again made the headlines, with screaming tabloid title such as “LASTMA rescues baby in multiple vehicle collision at Otedola Bridge.”
The baby, an eight-month-old infant was rescued unhurt in a multiple-vehicle collision early that Thursday at the Otedola Bridge, while no fewer than four pedestrians sustained serious injuries.
The accident, according to LASTMA’s Director of Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, Adebayo Taofiq, involved four vehicles.
The four injured pedestrians, one of who was carrying the baby, were said to be crossing the expressway when an LT commercial bus rammed into them.
The impact, Taofiq claimed, led to a secondary chain collision involving three other vehicles.
Kara bridge, sister culprit
Equally notorious for crashes is the Kara Bridge on the same Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Just 2.7kilometers from the Otedola Bridge, it might seems impossible to discuss crashes on Otedola Bridge or gridlocks at that, without referencing or implicating Kara, as effects of incidences on one impact the other.
A fortnight ago, Kara Bridge inward Mowe witnessed a multiple crash that led to the death of two people with several injured.
The accident occurred when a truck conveying bags of flour reportedly lost control and rammed into several vehicles, including commercial buses on the busy highway.
The impact also affected a Toyota Corolla that had been parked on the bridge due to a flat tyre, injuring its driver.
Emergency responders from the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE) were deployed to the scene to manage traffic and carry out rescue operations.
LASTMA in its official X handle said the crash involved a truck, a Toyota Corolla, a RAV4 SUV, and two fully loaded interstate buses.
Not surprisingly, the accident caused severe traffic gridlock, trapping thousands in their vehicles for hours.
Months earlier on October 30, 2025, six persons, including a police officer were confirmed dead following a multiple collision on the Kara Bridge.
The crash involved several trucks, including a fuel tanker. This resulted in a massive fire and chaos on the highway.
Eyewitnesses would later say that one of the trucks veered off the road and crashed into the concrete barricade on the bridge. The impact severed the truck’s head, causing it to plunge into the river below.
One of the victims, said to be a truck occupant, was burnt beyond recognition, while others, including a policeman and an assistant to one of the drivers, also lost their lives.
All-year-round
While the ‘Ember months have become notorious for accidents – many have put this down to certain beliefs and myths; these two bridges make no distinction. They remain prone to accidents every other month of the year –be it January, March or August; licking blood, savouring the clatter of bones and metal as well as mashing of flesh.
On some very bad weeks, Otedola Bridge, especially, records up to three or more fatal accidents, raising concerns and questions. Is it due to engineering fault, drivers’ impatience/recklessness? Or some supernatural reasons?
As Africans, this last part needed to be raised, as this is not the only bridge in Lagos.
