A yet-to-be-identified young man was killed on Wednesday afternoon when a speeding truck hit him on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway around OPIC, Ogun State. The driver sped off right after.
The incident occurred a few minutes before 1pm. According to those who saw it, the man was trying to cross to the other side of the road from the Lagos-bound lane, near the OPIC bus stop.
Witnesses said the truck was moving very fast. It rammed into the man, ran over him, and disappeared from the scene. The force threw parts of his body across the expressway, making drivers slow down and drive carefully around the area.
“I watched him cross the road when the truck hit him,” said Nojeem, who was at the scene.
Nojeem said he was tired of seeing people die on that stretch. He urged the government to build a pedestrian bridge there to protect commuters.
“We keep losing people here. This road needs a bridge so people can cross safely,” he said.
When our reporter got to the location around 2pm, the body was still on the road.
The Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps confirmed what happened. Its spokesperson, Babatunde Akinbiyi, said TRACE officers and Amotekun personnel were deployed to manage traffic after the crash.
Akinbiyi called it a hit-and-run case at OPIC bus stop on the Lagos-bound side. He said the accident caused slow movement while officials worked to clear the road.
In an update around 6pm, Akinbiyi said officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps had taken the body off the road. It was moved to Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in Sagamu.
He added that the highway had been cleared and vehicles were now moving freely on that section.
This latest incident has again brought attention to how dangerous it is for pedestrians to cross the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where many people walk across daily without a safe crossing.