3 killed in accident involving BRT bus

An accident involving a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) bus and a motorcycle on Sunday resulted in the death of three persons.

The accident, which occurred at Awoyaya axis of Lekki Epe Expressway in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area, comes two after soldiers in Palmgrove went on rampage, torching BRT buses and beating up people associated with owners of the buses, in protest of the alleged killing of a soldier by a BRT driver.

The army subsequently denied that its men were the ones who orchestrated the ensuing mayhem, saying instead that hoodlums were responsible.

Similarly, LAGBUS Asset Management Ltd., operators of the buses, denied reports that one of its drivers was responsible for the soldier’s death. Instead, they said the soldier’s corpse was deposited very early in the morning inside a bus that had broken down earlier.

According to a resident of Awoyaya who witnessed Sunday’s accident, a motorcycle conveying two passengers collided with the bus while attempting to escape a police patrol van chasing him.

The two passengers and the motorcyclist were said to have died immediately, prompting youths in the area to set the patrol van ablaze.

He said policemen fled the scene for safety, as social activities were paralysed and a serious traffic jam overtook the area.

Professor Wole Soyinka was one of those who, in response to Friday’s fracas,  berated the military for “subjecting civilians to needless attacks rather than protecting them”.

“Our military has gone mad again,” he said on Saturday, “Totally out of control, attacking civilians instead of protecting them.”