Hit-and-run driver kills pedestrian, victim’s ATM card missing

A young man, identified as Oluwayemi Oguntimehin, was on Tuesday killed after he was crushed by a hit-and-run driver  along the Mafoluku/Ibadan Express-way, Lagos. Read more
The incident was said to have occurred around 7am.

An eyewitness, Ilesanmi Olabode, told PUNCH Metro he was on his way to his office when the accident occurred.

He said the deceased would have survived the accident if he had been taken to a hospital immediately. Oguntimehin was said to have suffered head injuries and fractured limbs in the accident.

Olabode said, “It was around 7am when I was going to my office. I just saw that the guy, while trying to cross the expressway, was hit by the car.

“I quickly rushed there and with the support of some other people, we carried him to the Mafoluku/Gbagada bus stop.

“I saw that he was still alive but all the vehicles we tried to flag down to help us take him to the Gbagada General Hospital refused to stop, including a Lagos State Emergency bus.”

Olabode, who works with a fast food company, added that a tricycle however stopped, but because there were not enough people to support, the victim was left to die.

He said he handed over the victim to an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, who promised to call his colleagues to evacuate him.

“But to my surprise, when I came back to check, I saw that Oguntimehin was still on the road and was now dead. One of his two ATM cards, which I saw on him, was missing. I believed it had been stolen,” he said.

The General Secretary, Council of Oworonsoki Youth Forum, Mr. Kabiawu Babajide, told our correspondent that Oguntimehin was identified through his UBA ATM card.

Babajide decried the attitude of government to the people in the area, stressing that the spate of avoidable deaths from accident on the road was becoming worrisome.

He said, “We have witnessed too many deaths of students, church members, hospital staff, and PHCN workers on this Gbagada road.

“It is unfortunate that since 1979, the Federal Government does not have any contingency plan to save the populace from these frequent tragedies that normally occur at Mafoluku and Gbagada bus stops.”

The Lagos State Police Deputy Public Relations officer, Damasus Ozoani, promised to call back on the incident, but did not call back as of 8pm on Tuesday.
 

BY SAMSON FOLARIN
CULLED FROM PUNCH NEWSPAPER