Truck Crushes Toyota at Eleko; Husband Dead, Wife Critical.
LAGOS — A harrowing road traffic accident at the busy Eleko Junction claimed the life of a male motorist and left his wife fighting for survival early Thursday. An articulated truck loaded with granite reportedly suffered a catastrophic brake failure while traveling at high speed from the Epe axis. The heavy-duty vehicle veered sharply off its lane, ramming into a Toyota Camry saloon car moving toward Epe from Ajah. The force of the impact caused the truck to overturn directly onto the smaller vehicle, effectively crushing the occupants within the mangled steel.
Personnel from the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) executed a delicate rescue operation to extricate the couple. Tragically, the male driver was pronounced dead at the scene due to the severity of his injuries. His wife, who occupied the front passenger seat, sustained life-threatening trauma and was rushed to a nearby medical facility for emergency surgery. Furthermore, the truck driver reportedly fled the scene immediately after the collision, abandoning the wreckage and evading legal accountability.
The General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki in a statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq conveyed his profound condolences to the bereaved family, characterising the incident as a deeply distressing and preventable tragedy. He further extended earnest prayers for the expeditious and full recuperation of the injured spouse, while reaffirming the Agency’s resolute commitment to the rigorous enforcement of traffic statutes, particularly against reckless driving, mechanical dereliction and egregious violations of established road safety protocols.
The incident underscores a persistent and widening gap in the enforcement of roadworthiness standards for heavy-haulage vehicles in Nigeria. Despite recent state-led health and safety initiatives for professional drivers, mechanical failures continue to turn arterial roads into deathtraps. The General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, described the crash as an avoidable tragedy rooted in gross technical negligence. He reiterated that the agency would intensify its crackdown on reckless driving and the operation of unserviceable trucks within the metropolis.
In a related development, emergency responders battled a separate midnight inferno involving a 33,000-litre fuel tanker at Ile-Zik, inward Magboro. The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service collaborated with LASTMA officials to contain the blaze before it could trigger a secondary explosion. To facilitate the firefighting efforts, authorities temporarily diverted traffic into the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor to prevent further casualties. While no lives were lost in the Magboro fire, the twin events highlight the extreme volatility of the Lagos-Abeokuta and Lekki-Epe transport corridors.
Ultimately, the carnage at Eleko Junction serves as a grim reminder of the high price of ignored vehicle maintenance. The state government must move beyond verbal cautions and implement more rigorous, real-time inspections of articulated vehicles.