Motorcycle riders blocked sections of the Mile 2 part of the Oshodi-Apapa road protesting the death of one of their members who was killed after being run over by a tanker driver, causing extreme traffic on the road for hours on end.
According to reports, the unnamed motorcyclist was said to have attempted to move his bike from the custom lane (service lane) of the road to escape the terrible traffic when he lost balance, falling under the tyre of an on-coming truck which instantly crushed him to death.
The accident which occurred on Tuesday, August 12, 2014 made other motorcyclists to react violently, unleashing dangerous weapons and torching the truck.
Vanguard reports:
The resultant gridlock forced commuters to trek long distances to board buses to their respective destinations.
Efforts by security operatives to pacify the irate protesters failed as they descended on the truck driver.
It took combined efforts by team of naval personnel and officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, to rescue the truck driver from being lynched by the protesters.
An eye witness who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Vanguard on arrival at the scene that: “The truck driver was whisked to the premises of the FRSC at Berger, while the security operatives battled to prevent an escalation of the crisis”.
Mr. B.O Chigbo, Acting Head of Operation the FRSC (Berger), told Vanguard that the Okada rider was crushed by the trailer when he mistakenly ran in front of the vehicle.
He said, “At about 11 am, when we were holding our usual official meeting, we heard the people shouting and we later saw some of our men there. We rushed to know what exactly was going on and we found out that it was an accident involving an Okada rider who was driving one way and tried to jump the drainage to the other side. Unknown to the oncoming trailer driver, the commercial cyclist fell and the back tyre of the vehicle and was crushed.”
