Lagos schoolchildren accident: Police claim two lives lost, 12 injured

The Lagos State Police Command has said two students lost their lives in the accident involving a truck, which rammed into students of the Bab Fafunwa Millennium School, Ojodu, formerly Ojodu Grammar School.

The spokesman of the Police Command, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said this in a statement he issued late on Tuesday.

Ajisebutu equally said 12 others were injured in the accident in which the truck driver had been arrested.

The truck was also set ablaze.

However, eyewitnesses at the scene of the accident had reported more casualties than the police are claiming.

The death toll was put at between 14 and 17.

Ajisebutu said in his statement on Tuesday unedited:

Today, 7th December, 2021 at about 1415hrs, a DAF truck with Registration No. APP 438 YA driven by one Bolaji Kabiru ‘m’ rammed into some pedestrians later identified as students of Bab Fafunwa Millennium School, Ojodu formerly Ojodu Grammar School.

As a result of the accident, two males died on the spot,  seven females and five males totalling twelve victims sustained varying degrees of injuries. Traffic personnel from the Motor Traffic Department of the Ojodu Police Division immediately visited the scene. Corpses of the dead students (identity not yet known) were evacuated with the support of officers of the FRSC and were deposited at the Morgue of the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, for autopsy.

The injured victims were taken to God’s Apple City Hospital, Ojodu Berger; St. Michael Hospital, Ojodu; and the Lagos State Emergency Hospital, Toll Gate.

The erring driver has been apprehended and kept in police custody. However, the angry students who were later joined by hoodlums set the accidented vehicle ablaze.

They also attacked the Ojodu Police Station in their large number, demanding the release of the driver for jungle justice.

However, when their demand was not met, they became violent. In the process, they destroyed four vehicles parked in the premises of the police station and another mobile truck on the highway.

To avoid total breakdown of law and order, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, immediately ordered deployment of policemen comprising tactical teams, Rapid Response Squad and others to the scene to maintain law and order.

The protesters were professionally dispersed with minimum force without resulting to any further injury.

While commiserating with the bereaved families who lost their loved ones in the fatal motor accident, the Commissioner of Police appeals to sympathisers and other members of the public to allow the police carry out a thorough investigation, and avoid seeking self help.