A stretch on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is travellers’ nightmare
It is generally believed among users of the road that the more than 100-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is notorious for several dangerous spots, either due to the activities of armed robbers or as a result of damaged portions. Perhaps the most notorious of the stretch is the ‘Long bridge’, shortly after the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Church as you approach Lagos.
On a typical afternoon when the traffic is light, the long stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway ‘Long Bridge’, stretching from Wawa to Kara, looks safe and good to the ordinary eyes. But your perception of the safety changes when your vehicle breaks down, leaving you a sitting duck for attack by marauders whose activities defy time and place.
Though the trend had long been on, with most survivors pointing fingers at the Fulani herdsmen around the area, but the dangerous dimension of the situation was brought to the fore when a retired Army General was killed by his attackers.
According to reports, Brig. Gen. Sylvester Iruh (rtd), who had a day earlier attended a function in Ilorin, Kwara State, was on his way back to his home in Akute, Ogun State, on the fateful day in 2012. He had had a smooth ride until he had a tyre problem somewhere on the ‘Long Bridge’. No sooner had he stopped to fix the tyre than some suspected Fulani herdsmen emerged from under the bridge and shot him with an arrow.
Like the family of late General, those who had been unfortunate to have been mugged on that notorious bridge would not even wish the experience for their enemies.
Ironically, majority of those who had fallen victim to such attacks were those who had gone to perform religious activities in one of the churches or the other located along the expressway. Not minding the traffic on the bridge anytime there is a programme by any of the religious bodies, the marauders are always around to pounce on their unfortunate preys and when they do, they attack viciously, leaving their victims with tales of tears, sorrow and blood.
Reverend Akin Ajiboye lived to tell his story because of the stories of past victims he had heard of. The man of God, who lives somewhere in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos, was on his way home at about 5am after attending a church service on the fateful day. Eager to get home, he drove his Honda City car until he got to the danger spot where he had a flat tyre.
But with the sad tales of past victims ringing in his ears, he quickly left the car and took refuge in a disused mechanic hut some distance away from the spot. No sooner had he done this than he noticed four men approach his car. He watched as the men ransacked the car, taking the side mirrors, radio and other fittings. Despite the harrowing experience, Reverend Ajiboye was grateful to God for sparing his life.
Livinus Ikbo is a resident of one of the communities in the area and also the manager of Tipper Wawa. According to him, the ‘Long Bridge’ is a dangerous place and he would not advise anybody whose car breaks down to wait a second.
While acknowledging the fact that the attacks have reduced because the police now patrol the bridge and the presence police posts everywhere, he said he never prayed to experience the attack.
“There was a time a woman and her daughter were going to one of the church programmes; unfortunately, their car broke down, before you would say Jack Robinson, some people just surfaced from nowhere, attacked the woman and her daughter was seriously raped. The woman eventually escaped from the scene to report the matter to the police. My brother, I don’t pray to have such an experience”.
If the problem of mugging on the bridge could be controlled by the police, the occasional accidents on that bridge have been a source of concern to the people living in the communities off the express road. “Last week, a car knocked down a man who was going to work early in the morning,” Livinus told The Nation.
Under the bridge is a water-logged dirty path that cars and pedestrians have turned to a passage. Even the blind would know that the place was not part of the way created when the bridge was constructed. Curiously, The Nation decided to find out why such path would exist under the bridge.
Ikbo said the path was created to minimise the death toll on the road. That passage, according to him, was created to allow easy access to other side of the road, though he admitted that the place is not motorable. “Crossing the express road is not easy, I don’t cross the express, I pass through the short cut under the bridge.”
Livinus said the security of the area is a bit better now unlike what the people who had the misfortune of having a breakdown used to experience. On Tuesday when The Nation visited the Wawa part of the bridge at about 12 noon, heavily-armed police were sighted with their patrol vehicle at the foot of the bridge.
Livinus said it was after a retired General was killed sometime last year that the presence of the police became regular at the bridge the foot of the bridge. There is also a police station very close to the Wawa area of the bridge, he said.
At the height of the insecurity on the bridge, the marauders had no respect for either time or people. Irrespective of your age, they would attack if they had the slight opportunity. Irrespective of the time, be it night or day, if you were unlucky to have a break-down, they would attack viciously.
A Lagos-based engineer, Mr. Johnson Duru, will never forget an encounter with the marauders on the bridge in a hurry. He and some members of his family were attacked on that bridge last year. While returning from a trip, his Toyota Highlander SUV developed fault on the bridge at about 5.30pm. He was attacked by three men who emerged from under the bridge, armed with long machetes. “They charged at me, barking, ‘where is the money?’ Before I could fathom what was happening, the driver had run to the other side of the road, leaving me and my family members at the mercy of the robbers.”
It was a harrowing experience for Duru and his family. The marauders attacked him and his family with machetes and other dangerous weapons. Speaking about his experience, Duru said: “While the robbers concentrated on looting our valuables and money, one of them attempted to cut off my head, aiming the machete at my neck region.
“I raised my left hand and blocked it. I ended up with a big cut on my left arm, just a little above the elbow. My eight-year-old daughter, Ada, received lacerations on her thigh and leg. Debby, Chinelo and Chidiogo were also traumatised, because they also got injured during the attack.”
At the end of the attack, the robbers made away with a bag containing his laptop, phones, while his younger sister also lost two phones and an undisclosed amount of money.
Unfortunately, during the attack, no police patrol team showed up neither did other travellers stop to offer help. Even with a blood-soaked shirt, Duru said he waved to other motorists in vain for help.
“When some motorists saw my blood-soaked shirt, they increased their speed as they drove past us,” he said. It was a woman who was driving a private bus who stopped to offer him a piece of cloth which he used to tie the wound.
The men of the Federal Road Safety Commission later arrived at the scene and evacuated Duru and his family to the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Hospital at the old toll gate, Lagos, where they received treatment. His eight-year-old daughter described the experience as the worst in her life.
Duru said he learnt that a day before he was attacked, a motorist whose car developed a fault on the bridge was killed.
Attacks by robbers on the long bridge are frequent. Hardly does a week pass without reports of an attack on road users, sometimes leading to death.
The experience of some passengers travelling in a 14-seater bus from Ile-Ife, Osun State, was particularly traumatic. They were attacked when their bus broke down on the same bridge around 7.30pm. By the time their attackers escaped into the nearby bush, all the passengers had lost one item or the other; most of them lost various sums of cash.
A female journalist, whose car also broke down on the bridge last year, had her car and valuables stolen. The car was later recovered by the police.
When our correspondents visited the Olorunishola cattle market opposite the OPIC Plaza, long reputed to be the haven for the marauders, one of the leaders in the market, Moruf Akanni, denied the allegation. While acknowledging that they were aware of the stories, he said the suspected herdsmen were not resident in the market.
Akanni said people who were linking the activities of the marauders on the ‘Long Bridge’ with people from the market do so to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. According to him, the leaders of the market had been invited to Alausa, where he said they explained everything to the government.
To prove that criminals and criminality are not allowed in the market, Akanni said the authorities of the market only allow cattle dealers from distant places to sleep inside the market because they arrive late.
And to enforce discipline among the traders, the leaders put in place a fine of N5,000 on an offender who hits another person. Akanni explains: “What we are trying to do is that, whether you are right or wrong, you have no right to slap another person. And the law has helped to maintain discipline in the market.
“If you look around us here, you’ll see that there is police presence among us here. We have about three police stations and one police post. Their presence has really helped to maintain security around this area.”
And indeed, the presence of the police is not restricted to their stations. On this day, as our correspondents drove round the area, a number of police patrol vehicles were noticed around the dangerous spots. Men of the highway police team were seen at the Mowe end of the ‘Long Bridge’, clutching their guns, as if at the ready to go.
While many agreed that the presence of the police has helped in restoring some semblance of sanity in the area, the harrowing experience of past victims continue to haunt users of the road. As proof that the police will no longer tolerate any act of crime in the area, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, said his men are on top of the situation, warning criminal-minded persons to stay away.
While commending the men and officers of the Ibafo Police Division and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for arresting three suspected armed robbers on the bridge last week, the police boss said the command has declared total war against any form of criminality in the axis.
Meanwhile, as our correspondents drove along the bridge last week, two motorists whose vehicles broke down at about noon refused to stop and carry out any form of repair, though it was daytime. A motorist, driving a white Toyota Camry car with a flat tyre refused to stop; he drove on his rim towards the Lagos end of the road with fears written all over him.
Experiences like these will continue until the police and other security agencies find a lasting solution to menace of the marauders on the Long Bridge.
