On Tuesday, a logistics firm truck ran over a soldier at the Orile bus stop in Iganmu, Lagos, killing him.
The truck driver was allegedly escaping extortionists targeting commercial bus drivers on the Badagry Motorway.
Witnesses reported that the driver, in a bid to escape, drove recklessly from the scene after the accident. Soldiers who witnessed the incident gave chase and eventually apprehended the truck at the Mile 2 bus stop, although the conductor managed to escape.
Shola James, a trader at Orile, described the harrowing scene: “The truck’s back tyre crushed the soldier’s head. I couldn’t bear to look at the body again.” Another witness, a vulcanizer, mentioned that the soldier was on his motorcycle when the truck struck him, resulting in his instant death.
The soldiers returned the truck and the driver to the Orile bus stop before taking them back to their barracks, along with the soldier’s body. According to Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer Benjamin Hundeyin, the truck driver and the vehicle were not handed over to the police. “After the incident, the DPO of Orile Police Station and his men visited the scene and saw the soldier’s body. The soldiers returned with the truck and driver but took them and the soldier’s body back to their barracks,” Hundeyin explained.
This incident highlights the ongoing issues of road safety and extortion affecting drivers in Lagos, and the swift, yet unofficial, response by the military in this case.