By Akinwale Kasali
The State Police Command has cautioned angry youths and hoodlums not to take laws into their hands following a fatal accident that claimed the lives of students at Ojodu, Lagos.
A trailer had rammed into the students who were waiting for a bus at the bus stop on their way back home after school, and killed at least seven students. Many were, also, injured.
Angry students and youths had taken to the streets in protest, attacking any trailer that came their way.
But, giving an account of the fatal accident which claimed the lives of the students if Bab Fafunwa Millennium School, Ojodu, the Police Command ordered an investigation into the tragic incident.
According to the Police, at about 2:15pm, Tuesday, December 7, at Ojodu, a DAF truck with Registration No. APP 438 YA, driven by Bolaji Kabiru rammed into some pedestrians leading to their death.
The Lagos State Police Public Relation Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu disclosed that as a result of the accident, two males died on the spot, seven females and five males totalling twelve victims sustained varying degrees of injuries.
It however took the intervention of Traffic personnel from the Motor Traffic Department of the Ojodu Police Division who immediately visited the scene for order to be restored.
Corpses of the dead students whose identities were not yet known as at the time of filing this report were evacuated with the support of personnel of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, and were deposited at the morgue of the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, for autopsy.
The injured victims were taken to God’s Apple City Hospital, Ojodu Berger; St. Michael Hospital, Ojodu; and the Lagos State Emergency Hospital, Toll Gate.
The erring driver is said to have been apprehended and kept in police custody. However, the angry students who were later joined by hoodlums set the accidented vehicle ablaze.
They also attacked the Ojodu Police Station in their large number, demanding the release of the driver for jungle justice.
However, when their demand was not met, they became violent. In the process, they destroyed four vehicles parked in the premises of the police station and another mobile truck on the highway.
To avoid total breakdown of law and order, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Odumosu, immediately ordered deployment of policemen comprising Tactical teams, Rapid Response Squad and others to the scene to maintain law and order.
The protesters were professionally dispersed with minimum force without any further injury.
While commiserating with the families who lost their loved ones in the fatal accident, the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, appealed to sympathisers and other members of the public to allow the Police carry out a thorough investigation, and avoid seeking self help.
A report had alleged that the accident was caused by LATSMA and VIOs who were in pursuit of the trailer before it lost control and rammed into the students crushing them. Initial reports had put the number of fatalities at between seven and 15. But the Police says two.
