Picture credit: TheNews
Angry students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) stormed Fakoya Hospital in Sagamu, Ogun State on Saturday to forcefully remove the corpses of their colleagues killed in a road accident on Friday.
They threatened a showdown with the management of the facility over the N20,000 official fee per corpse demanded before the dead students could be released to their families.
The incensed students however evacuated their dead colleagues forcefully without paying and moved the bodies to the morbid anatomy unit of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) Sagamu.
No less than 12 OOU students lost their lives on Friday when a 20-feet container truck marked (LAGOS) BDG 779 XE ran into a Toyota Hiace passenger bus bearing (Lagos) XV 311 MUS at Ilishan Remo/Sagamu Junction of Sagamu/Benin Expressway in Ogun State.
Abdullahi Lawal, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Sagamu Unit Commander, who confirmed the accident, told the News Agency of Nigeria that 15 persons were involved in the accident.
According to Lawal, while 12 of them died, three were seriously injured.
He said: “We went to the scene and met the crash, which involved a truck carrying a container and a commercial bus.
“Three of them were rescued and taken to the hospital.
“The remaining 12 were killed.
“We could not find the driver of the truck.
“We assumed that they ran off when the accident happened.
“Eyewitnesses said the truck was driving against traffic.
“It happened in Ijebu Ode/Sagamu side of the road
“We recovered the manifest of the vehicle.
“We discovered that the vehicle loaded from Ago-Iwoye and was heading to Sango Ota.
“All the recovered items, including the original copy of the manifest, are with the police.”
The commander said the corpses were deposited at Fakoya Mortuary in Sagamu while the injured were taken to Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu.
In an interview with TheNews shortly after the accident, the Ijebu Sector Commander of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Tommy Hamzat, “I was coming from Sagamu side and saw the accident. I had to hurriedly park my car, run there to see if the passengers could be rescued but unfortunately all the occupants were dead, including the driver.
“The bus was facing Lagos, though I don’t know where it was coming from. The container truck with no load on it was coming from Sagamu side but was driving against the traffic and that resulted in the collision, which eventually claimed the lives of the innocent people.”
QED learned the Students Union Government of OOU has declared June 29 as Black Monday.
“There will be no lectures in all our campuses on Monday, June 29, 2015. No club should operate within OOU environs on this day,” reads a statement from the students.
A candle light procession is also scheduled to hold on that day.
