ABUJA - The driver of the truck that crushed 19 passengers to death on the Ijebu-Ode-Sagamu expressway on July 31, 2009 has appeared before the Senate ad hoc Committee on Armed Robbery and Breach of Security.
The driver, Osayande Idahosa, who hails from Benin, admitted before the committee that he was the driver of the truck with Reg. No. XN 808 BEN, which crushed the 19 passengers to death.
Idahosa said that he unknowingly drove over the passengers whom he mistook for barricade used to block the road during an armed robbery operation.
He recalled that on that fateful night, he was driving a truck loaded with foodstuff to Lagos; when at a spot on the Ijebu-Ode-Sagamu road he heard gunshots.
“At that point, my conductor and another female passenger bent down and I slowed down in an attempt to reverse. But, when I looked behind, I sighted over 10 armed gunmen.
“I also noticed that the barricade they used to block the road in front was not too high; So, I decided to take the risk.
“I accelerated and climbed the barricade but in my confusion, I swerved into the bush from where I came out of the truck and ran for my dear life, with deafening sounds of gunshots trailing me,’’ Idahosa said.
Also, Mr Okechukwukere Okafor, the driver of the luxury bus in which passengers were travelling, testified before the committee.
He, however, denied newspaper reports that he was ordered by the robbers to drive over the passengers at gunpoint.
He also confirmed that the incident occurred last July, contrary to reports that it occurred this year.
Okafor, who was the driver of the luxury bus belonging to the “Young Shall Grow Motors’’, said that the 19 crushed persons were among the 41 passengers he was conveying to Lagos.
Both drivers said that they were arrested by the police but later released on bail.
Reports says that the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the SSS and the Corps Marshal of FRSC, were among those who appeared before the committee, chaired by Senator Patrick Osakwe.
NAN recalls that the Senate in February passed a resolution condemning the passengers’ massacre that was erroneously reported by a newspaper to have occurred on February 25.
The Senate then inaugurated the ad hoc committee to investigate the matter.
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