A middle-aged woman identified as Mrs. Ibidunni Awotunde was on Wednesday crushed to death by a moving truck which shattered her skull at the popular Olomoore Hausa Market of Abeokuta metropolis in Ogun State.
Ibidunni was crushed after a yet-to-be-identified commercial motorcycle rider popularly referred to as “okada” knocked her down while waiting to board a taxi home after her shopping at the market.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the okada rider, who was plying on the direction prohibited by traffic laws (one-way) earlier hit the deceased, a single parent and mother of three, making her to fall infront of the moving truck on the already narrowed road by trading activities and indiscriminate cyclists parking.
It however took the quick intervention of the Supervisory Counselor for Works, Abeokuta North local government, Hon. Kabir Ayoola to douse the tension generated by Ibidunni’s death before escalating into a breakdown of law and order.
While the driver of the truck was arrested along with the truck to the nearest police station, the okada rider escaped from the scene, leaving his bike behind which was also towed to the Lafenwa Police Station in Abeokuta.
Traders, residents, as well as other stakeholders in Abeokuta have called on Governor Dapo Abiodun-led government to seize the incident in evolving means through which activities of commercial motorcyclists will be regulated in the area to prevent the reoccurrence of the situation.
The Supervisory Counselor, Hon. Ayoola, who spoke with LEADERSHIP, said more harm could be done to the people of the area if the activities of the okada riders’, most of whom are from the Republic of Benin are not regulated.
He particularly requested that the Ogun State Ministry of Transportation should evacuate all the “Okada” riders from the roadside, provide them a shelter and regulate their activities.
He added that “those okada riders should have identifiable route numbers to enable security operatives track them down whenever they commit offenses.
“Had it being that the okada riders were properly registered in the state, it would have been so easy to track down this particular one who committed this crime”.