Yishau Sanni sat pensively at the second floor corridor area of Kejide Specialist Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State. More than 48 hours after he and his friends were involved in a fatal accident, Sanni is yet to overcome the trauma he suffered. And as the horror of the last 48 hours played back in his brain, he looked into space, probably trying to find an explanation for what happened. But with no one to explain to him, he shook his head and resigned himself to fate.
The signs of what he had been through were written all over him. His left eye still had a reddish cloth of blood. On that same side of the face, there were bruises that were healing. He must have hit his face on the tarred road. There was a huge injury on his back. The medical personnel at the hospital have treated the injury and it was dry and in a healing process.
Inside his ward on the second floor of the hospital is another survivor of the accident, Yusuf Saleh. His case was more severe. A side of his head had been shaven and stitched. There were still cakes of blood around his head and hand. He also had some bruises on his buttock and face. Yusuf barely managed to look up before falling back into bed again. Yusuf said he was from Dan Musa council area of Katsina State and was on his second visit to Lagos. He was lucky to have survived, as he was sleeping when the incident happened. He did not know when or how the accident occurred. He work up and found himself in the hospital.
Yishau Sanni and Yusuf Saleh were among the few people who survived the fatal accident, which sources say may have claimed about 30 lives in the early morning of Sunday, February 7, 2016, at Kilometer 22 Ibadan-Lagos Express Way.
The trailer, according to the victims, was loaded with goats and humans from the North of the country and heading to Lagos, before the driver lost control and ran into a stationary vehicle. The lorry tumbled and spewed out its large cargo of man, animal and goods. After the dust settled, about 30 of the passengers were dead, tens of them injured. Some of the goods on board, like motorcycles and other items were damaged. Ironically, all the goats survived with no casualty.
Speaking with The Nation on the hospital bed, Yishau Sanni: “We left Malumfashi around 6am. This is not my first time of coming to Lagos. I have been coming during the dry season for dry season odd jobs. Such a thing has never happened to me until this last journey.
“There was nothing too serious before now. The only thing is that the trailer driver sped. He was speeding a lot. Once he saw that the road was good, he would start speeding. When the accident was about to happen, we had passed Ibadan. What happened was that there was another trailer that had also taken off from the same park at Malumfashi. But the other trailer left before us. The trailer driver and ours know each other because they left from the same park. Our driver wanted to overtake him, but the other driver did not give any space for us to pass, and unfortunately, our trailer was on high speed. When he was about to overtake the other one, he discovered that the space was too small for him to pass, and he was on high speed. He matched the break and lost control of the vehicle. It threw us all on the road.
“I was at the top. It was simply with the grace of God that I found myself on the ground. I checked myself and discovered that I had bruises on my back, my face and other parts of my body. I just thank God. At the scene of the accident I lost all that I had, including my handset. Now I cannot call my family at home for them to know that I am alive”.
According to the survivors, the driver of the trailer is called Chamsi, while his assistant is Farouk Malumfashi. They said from the outset, the driver seemed to be in a hurry to get to Lagos. He did not stop for them to pray along the way, making only two stops, one at Makera to refuel and the other was early Sunday morning at Oyo. After eating at Oyo, the driver took off again and did not stop at Ibadan, but headed straight to Lagos.
Shortly after the lorry passed Ibadan, the driver saw the other trailer that had earlier left before him and tried to overtake the other lorry. At the spot of the accident in Adeosun Village, reconstruction works of the road by RCC had been completed, and it was observed that three vehicles could comfortably drive side by side.
The Nation observed that most of the lorries that travel from the Northern part of the country to Lagos are most times, dangerously overloaded with livestock, goods and human cargoes.
However, the latest accident has thrown up many questions begging for answers. Ordinarily, trailers are mostly goods only vehicles and therefore, not meant to convey human cargoes. But, because of the level of poverty in the society, many from the rural areas who are desirous of getting to Lagos in search of greener pasture, would do anything, including being loaded with animals, to get to Lagos.
Normal farming tradition in Hausaland allows the farmers to migrate to towns and cities during the season in search of work, rather than stay idle in the villages. Most of the passengers were farmers migrating to Lagos in search of dry season jobs (cin rani), at the end of which they would go back to the villages once the rainy season starts.
According to Yishau, it costs the travellers a little over N1,000 for a journey of close to a 1000 kilometers or more: “ We paid N1,100 because it is a big vehicle. For the small buses, they pay between N3,500 to N4,000. You know the big trailer carries many passengers, that is why it is cheap.
“I did not count the number of passengers inside. It will be very difficult for the number to be up to 100. If we were not up 100, I know, at least, we were up to 80.” Asked why there were many people in the trailer in addition to up to 100 goats, he retorted: “That is how they load. Even that first trailer that left before us was carrying about the same number, if not more. There were so many in that trailer too. I had entered that other one and when I saw that people were too many, I came down and boarded this one. Some of the owners of these goods normally go with the vehicle.”
When asked what he was coming to Lagos to do, Yishau said: “I do odds jobs, most especially at building construction sites. I work as a daily labourer to earn a living, which I send back for my family upkeep. It helps to keep one busy before the rainy season starts at home. I am a farmer and I also rear cows. We normally go back once we get the information that rain has started in Katsina.”
However, the question on the lips of many is how such lorries, loaded with human and animal cargoes, would pass men of the police and the Federal Road Safety Corps who are supposed to check and prevent accidents.
Speaking on the accident, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police, Oyo State, Mr. Adekunle Ajisebutu said: “We are conscious of the fact that life is sacrosanct, hence the Oyo State Police Command is determined to carry out its traditional mandate among others, of protecting lives and property. To reduce the rate of accident/carnage on our roads, the command will collaborate with sister agencies and government to ensure strict enforcement of all traffic laws, especially in the state. Reckless and dangerous driving will no longer be tolerated.”
The Nation also spoke with the sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Oyo State, Mr. Yusuf Salami. He noted that the vehicle took off from Katsina State and crashed in Oyo State.
He said FRSC has been doing much to educate and curtail the activities of these drivers. He said: “In December, we did Operation Scorpion for trucks and tankers. About 230 trucks and trailers were arrested from all over the state for violations. The issue is of great concern to us and we are addressing it with our special patrols. The trailer was carrying goods and goats, and was not supposed to carry passengers. We are also organising special programmes to educate the drivers.”
Also speaking, the President of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, who condemned lorry drivers, who ply the Apapa Wharf to transport goods to other parts of the country, for overloading, said, the onus should be on the law enforcement agencies to stop these trailers and their drivers.
He said: “There is little I can do. The law enforcement agencies are supposed to check these people. Some of them stay on top of the vehicle and in the night when they fall asleep; they could easily fall off and get killed.
“There are things we can do. While in Lagos, some of these laws to help to secure lives and stop this kind of accident could be enforced, but once they leave Lagos, that is the end, there is nothing like overloading. The police and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) are supposed to stop them…We are trying our best to make them know that a life lost cannot be regained, that is the end.
“We are also working on training and we will continue to train our members to reduce such incidents. “
Asked whether he believed that the law enforcement agencies are doing enough, he said: “If I say so, it would be like I am indicting them. They are charged with that responsibility and I expect them do their job. That is why they were created.”
