BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
There was tension in Ijetu community, Osogbo, the Osun State capital recently as some aggrieved residents, dominantly youths, blocked the busy Ilesa Garage/Ijetu road, thereby causing traffic snarl that lasted several hours in the axis.
The residents took to the streets in protest against the recurrent cases of auto crashes at the Ijetu axis, Osogbo/Ilesha Garage/Oke Baale Axis of the Oba Adesoji Aderemi Circular Road, popularly called ‘Ona baba ona.’
The inhabitants of the community became agitated by a recent auto crash that involved a black Lexus car and two motorcycles along the highway, which reportedly claimed five lives, leaving several others with varying degrees of injuries.
It was gathered that but for the prompt intervention of the law enforcement agents and some elders of the community, some aggrieved youths would have set the Lexus car ablaze.
In an interview with The Point, the Chairman of the zones in Ijetu community, Osogbo, Tunde Sangodipe, said that five persons, including commercial motorcyclists, passengers and passersby, died while others sustained varying degrees of injuries.
Sangodipe added that the casualties were rushed to the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, while others were taken to the Osogbo Central Hospital.
He lamented that their outcries to the state Ministry of Works and Ministry of Road and Transportation, and the FRSC in the state had yet to yield a positive result.
According to him, the road, which is infested with potholes and craters, has become a death trap with no fewer than 25 persons, including two National Youth Service Corps members, dead in different crashes on the road since it was constructed.
The people called for the construction of speed breakers and the erection of more road signs to forestall the recurrence of accidents.
Referring to the latest accident on the highway, Sangodipe said, “When I got to the scene, I discovered that it was serious, judging by the flow of blood at the scene. I learnt that five people died and many were injured. The bodies of those who died had been taken to the mortuary of the UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital and Osogbo Central Hospital, Oke-Baale.
“Accidents are rampant on the road and the complaint letters and petitions to the state government through the Ministry of Road and Transportation and Ministry of Works have not been attended to. We invited the Chairman of Osogbo South Local Government Area and the Divisional Police Officer at the Oke Baale, Osogbo Police Division; they came but nothing particularly has been done.
“We also visited the Ataoja of Osogbo to lodge a complaint on the rampant cases of auto crashes on the road. He gave us a letter to Governor Gboyega Oyetola, yet, nothing has been done. We are not only demanding for speed breakers but we are also asking that they fix the bad portions of the road.
“We invited the officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps to a meeting on the state of the road. With the accident in which five people perished, we have recorded a total of 25 deaths in different crashes on the road. Recently, two corps members, who are a couple, died on this road when an okada hit and killed them.”
“We have decided to close down the road until the government attends to our plights,” Sangodipe added.
In a telephone interview, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Osun State Command, Paul Okpe, confirmed the accident, saying, however, that only three people lost their lives in the incident in which the driver of the affected car was found to have been drunk.
“What happened was that a young man who was driving rammed into two bikes, one carrying one passenger and the other carrying two passengers. Our officer who was at the scene said that three persons died while two were taken to the hospital. We will follow up. An unconfirmed source said that the driver of the vehicle was drunk,” Okpe said.
