Many commuters plying the Ikorodu Road, Lagos State, were on Monday stranded after residents protesting against the death of a pupil blocked the road.
The protesters made a bonfire and reportedly prevented ambulances which came to pick the corpse from taking him as they insisted on the presence of the victim’s parents.
BRT vehicles on the Ikorodu Road corridor temporarily suspended operations to avert running into the protesters, who mounted the blockade on the Idiroko end of the road where the accident occurred.
It was gathered that 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 BRT vehicle.
The driver was reported to have run over the boy.
A witness, Bisi Oladapo, told one of our correspondents that the incident happened around 8am.
She said, “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.
“Only 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, Omolade Ibidapo, said sympathisers and other residents made a bonfire and blocked the road.
She noted that two ambulances which attempted to take the corpse were prevented by the protesters.
“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.
“Two ambulances were prevented from taking the corpse because people wanted his parents to be around. They couldn’t locate them on time and that was why the body was on the ground for some hours,” she added.
Another resident, Johnson Obiyemi, criticised the state government for not building a pedestrian bridge at the junction.
“The one they built at Ogolonto is at the BRT bus stop, which is far from the school; people are not even using it. Where they are supposed to build a pedestrian bridge, they constructed a billboard advertising the achievements of the governor. It was tragic that the boy was crushed under that billboard,” he added.
