THE FATAL ACCIDENT
On Saturday 16th July, 1997. as I was about to set out on the ill-fated journey, I didn't have a premonition that I would have an accident. On that day. I woke up as early as 5.30 am in the morning, took my bath and dressed up for the journey to Lagos from lbadan.
I boarded the bus at the Lagos garage at 6:05 am and I had in mind that by 7:15 am, I would be in Lagos which would give me ample opportunity to get to the venue of the interview I was to attend on that day. Soon after I had taken my seat, the Toyota Hiace 30-seater bus was filled up and the motor pack touts collected transport fares from every passenger.
What we noticed was that after the collection of the transport fares, the driver was not on hand to start the journey. This delayed the journey for a few minutes during which we all cried out as we all seemed to be in a hurry to get to Lagos.
When the journey began, I noticed that the speed of the bus was too much. A more elderly man who sat with the driver in front of the bus cautioned him but he dismissed the man's caution in vulgar languages. Soon after passing through the toll gates, we covered about fifty kilometres within a few hours. By this time, many passengers, including the elderly man who had been cautioning the driver, had fallen asleep.
About thirty minutes after taking off, we got to the middle toll gates where many passengers who had fallen asleep woke up. In minutes, we passed through the toll gates and started the second phase of the journey. This time around, the driver increased his speed and as before, many passengers slept off again. I could not sleep because 1 was scared by the maniacal speed of the reckless driver.
While at speed, the bus was criss-crossing the lanes and within a twinkle of an eye, the bus swerved off the road into the bush. The driver had slept off and before he woke up we had found ourselves in the bush. The bus was eventually stopped by a big tree which it ran into in the bush. The bus was damaged, the windscreen smashed and the smithereens of the windscreen splashed on those of us who were sifting at the back seat thus leaving behind wounds on our faces. The driver and the two passengers sitting with him in the front seats died instantly. Ten others died while we were being taken to the hospital. The rest, including me, sustained severe injuries. In fact, a lady sustained spinal cord injuries. I thank God for sparing my life.