Tragedy struck at Orile bus-stop, Iganmu, Lagos, on Tuesday, when a soldier was fatally crushed to death by a moving truck owned by a logistics company.
The incident occurred as the truck driver was fleeing from racketeers who were demanding money from commercial bus drivers at the Orile end of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
In a bid to escape, the driver drove recklessly away from the scene, disregarding the accident. Other soldiers present at the scene immediately pursued the truck and managed to apprehend it at the Mile 2 bus stop. However, the truck’s assistant driver successfully escaped.
According to Shola James, a trader at Orile, “The truck’s back tyre crushed the soldier’s head. I couldn’t bear to look at the body again.”
Another eyewitness, a vulcanizer, reported that the soldier was on his motorcycle when the truck hit him, resulting to his instant death.
Lagos State’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed that neither the truck driver nor the truck was handed over to the police.
“After the incident, the DPO of Orile Police Station and his men visited the scene and saw the soldier’s body. The soldiers returned with the truck and driver but took them and the soldier’s body back to their barracks,” Hundeyin stated.
