Korede Abdullah in Lagos
A fatal road accident occurred on Tuesday (today), on the Ijebu-Ode/Epe Road, claiming the lives of five secondary school teachers and leaving several others injured.
The teachers, who were from Epe, were returning from a staff audit organized by the Lagos State government at the Adeyemi Bero Hall in Alausa.
According to sources, the accident occurred when a trailer, allegedly driving against traffic, collided head-on with one of the buses conveying the teachers.
Sources revealed that the teachers were in a convoy of 18-seater buses, numbering about ten, which were hired to convey them to and from the event venue.
Due to road construction on the normal route, they took an alternative route through Ijebu-Ode. “Five teachers died on the spot while the injured were rushed to the Epe General Hospital,” sources narrated. “We have not slept since then, and the Epe General Hospital is playing host to teachers and their families.”
Some of the survivors blamed the Lagos State government for not decentralizing the staff audit exercise, which they claimed contributed to the tragedy.
“I don’t know why they asked all the teachers to come to Alausa. If you see the scene of the audit at Alausa, the place was so rowdy that one can even suffocate,” a teacher lamented.
The police spokesperson in the state, Benjamin Hundeyin, had not responded to requests for comment on the tragic accident at the time of filing this report.
