BREAKING: Ogun automobile technicians protest killing of three members by reckless truck driver

Hundreds of members of the Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association (NATA) in Ajebo, Ogun State, staged a protest on Thursday following the deaths of three of their colleagues due to reckless driving by truck drivers on the OGTV/Ajebo road.

The tragic incident occurred on Wednesday evening near the Kemta area in Abeokuta, the state capital. The protesters expressed their outrage over what they deemed an avoidable tragedy, insisting that trucks should be banned from using the road until a permanent solution is put in place.

Comrade Saheed Arulogun, Chairman of the NATA Ajebo Mechanic Village unit, revealed that at least five people have lost their lives between December and early this month due to similar reckless driving incidents involving truck drivers.

Arulogun said “We are out today to express our sadness and frustration over these truck drivers that have continued to cause avoidable loss of lives on this Ajebo/OGTV road.

“Last night, at about 6:30pm, one of the truck drivers ran over three of our members who closed from work and were on motorcycle going home.

“The accident happened around Kemta and that was the end of these precious souls. On December 27, one of these truck drivers killed a staff of Federal Medical Centre and even in January another person was killed, we are tired of these senseless killings.

“These are human beings, breadwinners in their respective homes, this must not be allowed to continue.

“The truck drivers are not the only one using this road but they are always the ones killing people like fowl and this is because they think they are above the law. They don’t have regard for other road users, they can even park in the middle of the road and cause unnecessary obstruction.

“We have observed that many of these truck drivers are on drugs, so they behave as they like on the road, they care less about other road users and they don’t have any safety orientation at all.

“The government must not allow them to continue to plunge people into unimaginable sorrow, the government must be ready to wield its big stick on any of them found wanting”.

Arulogun said that the government should restrict the movement of trucks to 11pm as ordered by the immediate past governor of the State.