14 escape death at controversial Lagos-Ibadan Expressway police checkpoint

Fourteen persons on Friday escaped death on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in an accident allegedly caused by a police checkpoint just before Berger Bus Stop at the Lagos end of the road.Among those in the 14-person capacity bus, which was travelling from Ilorin, Kwara State, to Lagos were three students of the Kwara State Polytechnic.The incident is reminiscent of a similar one which occurred on August 16, 2010, where over 40 persons died in a multiple road accidents, on a bridge opposite Otedola Estate, near the same bus stop.Last years accident was said to have been caused by some policemen who mounted checkpoints on some wrong locations on the expressway to extort money from motorists.According to eyewitnesses, Fridays incident occurred when the policemen manning the checkpoint suddenly flagged down the bus.It was learnt that a driver of a trailer, which was coming behind the bus, could not immediately control the speed of the heavy duty vehicle, thereby hitting the bus from behind.Sources told our correspondent that the bus, which was badly damaged with its windscreen shattered, immediately swerved off the road, resulting in injuries to the occupants.About five of the wounded passengers were rushed to a nearby private hospital, identified as Sadua Hospital.Two of the injured, identified simply as Dami and Bukky, who incidentally are friends, were discharged from the hospital the next day, while another victim, identified simply as Yinka, was still lying in the hospital as at the time of filing this report on Sunday.An occupant of the vehicle, Bukky, who spoke with our correspondent said, We were travelling from Ilorin to Lagos because I had a wedding on Saturday where I was supposed to handle the brides make-over.We had almost reached Lagos, just before Berger Bus Stop, when some policemen suddenly asked the driver to stop. Just as he was trying to stop, we heard a loud impact behind us which shattered the windscreen and the driver lost control.We are lucky to be alive because if the trailer that hit us had petroleum products inside it, it would have caught fire and only God knows what would have happened.The policemen were said to have taken to their heels when the accident happened, but had to return when they observed that nobody died in the collision.It was observed that the two checkpoints at Kara and Berger bus stops are less than 50 metres apart and were mounted by the Ogun State Police Command and its Lagos State counterpart.
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