Drunken EKTSMA official crushes motorcyclist, passengers legs

By Rotimi Ojomoyela
Ado-Ekiti—Tragedy struck in Ado-Ekiti yesterday when a drunken operative of the Ekiti State Traffic Management Agency, EKSTMA, crushed the legs of a motorcyclist and his passenger with the Agency’s towing truck.
The accident victims were immediately rushed to the Accident and Emergency Section of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital.
The incident, which occurred some meters away from Oluyemi Kayode Stadium on Thursday morning, attracted wild outrage from other motorcycle operators and eye witnesses.
Eyewitness account revealed that the accident occurred while the EKSTMA truck running after another car said to have driven against regulations somewhere along Ijigbo Area, but was trying to escape arrest.
The accounts stated that the driver of the truck, who should have applied the break while approaching a busy junction, just entered the junction, running over the motorcyclist and his passenger coming in opposite direction.
An eyewitness, who related how the incident occurred to newsmen, said “The truck was pursuing a car from Okesa area, but he did not stop when he got to this junction. While the car entered the road, the truck followed, but while the car escaped, the truck hit an Okada rider (commercial motorcycle operator).”
The incident attracted a mammoth crowd that struggled to catch a glimpse of the wreckage of the motorcycle lying under the truck.
Different brands of bottled liquor allegedly found inside the truck fuelled the speculation that the truck driver was drunk.
One of the accident victims, Tosin Babalola, who spoke on his hospital bed at the Teaching Hospital, said “Only God saved me and that man (referring to the commercial motorcyclist) today. We were coming from Oremeta Area and suddenly, we found ourselves under the truck. The speed of the driver was just unbelievable. We were told he was pursuing a car at the time. The man has changed my journey while I was preparing for a new year.”
However, Popoola Christopher, the motorcyclist, urged the state government to investigate the accident and punish the truck driver, adding that “I cannot understand why such a heavy vehicle would be speeding like that at such a tiny area. Why? Government must support us to get out of this.
This accident must not be allowed to deform us.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Motorcycle Riders Association, Dahunsi Olaniyi, explained that the issues have been resolved and the victims already taken and being attended to at the State Teaching Hospital while declining further comments.