Emi, okunrin meta alayeluwa of the underworld was at it again. I had barely taken two down, when i heard the voice of 2 hefty men. One was shouting, Park! Park!! I say Park!!! the voice was coming from above me... from the road. It was the MEN IN BLACK, or is it now BLUE, and they had mounted sufficient hell gates (bonfires) to serve as obstruction to road users along the Lagos - Ibadan Expressway, and as well serve as a good trap for me also to catch the likes of jerry and for them to make their highway loot.
This is no new practice as scores of the MIB have made this their primary assignment and duty. While, garfield was busy enjoying his own little loot, one of them stood by the bridge head and was receiving the returns and busy counting the loot while he smacked his lips.
It was getting to mid-day and i was preparing to get back home for my siesta when suddenly i had a thunderous blast and within an inch of a second the whole place with filled with black smoke. I first thought it was a shoot out between police and thief, but when i moved closer and closer to the scene, i discovered it was a ghastly motor accident involving over ten cars at the Otedola Bridge axis of the Lagos - Ibadan Expressway,and scores of people were being burnt alive.
My first human instinct was to run for cover but i remembered, foolish garfield, i'm just a canine and my own spectacular specie had nine lives, so there was no going back on this rescue mission. I quickly leaped into action and managed to pull a victim covered under a seat from his vehicle and helped in gathering some dust and water to help people that would have been burnt to death on Sunday afternoon.
"Eye wey see" say the accident occurred around 11.19 am, when the trailer, while descending a slope leading to expressway, experienced a failed brake and crashed into the line of vehicles waiting to be cleared at the checkpoint.
The force of impact caused an explosion that instantly inflamed the vehicles. Some other vehicles also crashed into the inferno as drivers panicked and lost control of their vehicles. Over 15 vehicles were damaged and scores of people have been burnt to death.
Officials of the state fire service and medical services rushed to the scene to put out the fire and attend to the wounded. The ensuing chaos, as hundreds of commuters ran helter skelter, resulted in a traffic congestion that lasted for hours. Thousands of commuters became stranded in the gridlock. The Expressway is the major exit from Lagos for people travelling to other parts of the country.
"Eye wey see" said the impact started a fire which burnt completely eight vehicles, four of them passenger buses. The eyewitnesses, who blamed the police for the accident, said the buses were fully loaded.
"See wey tin police have caused because of N50,'' Lateef Ajala, who i met and said he witnessed the incident, told me even the MIB had taken the same toll from his commercial bus.
The fire created panic among motorists who while trying to escape hit each other's cars. One of the vehicles rested on the railing of the bridge.
Angered by the incident, street urchins, popularly called Area Boys, made bonfires similar to the one put up the MIB on the Ibadan-Lagos section of the expressway and the streets leading to Omole Estate and Sir Michael Otedola Housing Estate.
The incident created a heavy traffic jam on both sides of the expressway for several hours especially for the masive church services of the MFM and Redeem churches along this same axis.
