Residents Bar Ikorodu Expressway After BRT Kills Pupil

Residents of the Ikorodu yesterday barricaded the road, started a bonfire and left commuters stranded on the road as a result of their protest after a BRT vehicle allegedly killed a pupil.

The victim, Ezekiel Daniel, a pupil of Cherubim and Seraphim School, Idiroko, was about to cross the road with other pupils when he was hit by the vehicle. The driver was said to have run over the boy.

One of the residents, Bisi Oladapo, who claimed to have witnessed the incident recounted the ordeal;

“The boy was in primary six. The school has a crossing guard and the man had stopped the traffic for a set of pupils. As soon as the pupils passed, the boy wanted to cross as well when he was hit by the BRT vehicle. His leg was hit the first time, but as he struggled to stand up, the back tyres of the bus smashed his skull. He died on the spot.”

Another resident, who identified herself as Omolade Ibidapo, said sympathisers and other residents made a bonfire and blocked the road. Two ambulances came for the corpse but the protesters refused to let them part with the body.

“The BRT bus sped off. They couldn’t catch the driver and they could not vandalise any BRT vehicle. Immediately the accident happened, BRT drivers passed the information to one another and they started turning back at Agric bus stop.”

The Head of Operations, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Lanre Adeyemi, said preliminary investigation revealed that the BRT driver ignored the stop signal of the crossing guard when the accident happened.

Protesters barricaded the road and caused a standstill traffic, we had to call on the military for help as the situation was beyond the police. We are still expecting the Driver to report himself to the nearest police station for necessary action as residents claimed to have marked the vehicle’s plate number and colour.  He added