MOTORISTS groaned yesterday as the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway was locked down in traffic for nine hours after two tankers and a trailer collided at Ilasamaja bus stop.

The gridlock stretched from Ilasamaja to Mile 2, a distance of about nine kilometers.

The accident occurred around 2am and the vehicles were removed at 11a.m.

Many commercial buses did not operate, leaving commuters, including pupils, stranded for hours.

Those that operated plied one-way, facing vehicles coming from Oshodi and Airport Road.

The police and all other security agencies watched helplessly.

Officers at the Ilasamaja Police Station on the expressway looked away as some motorists drove against traffic.

Some motorists said the traffic problem was getting out of hand. They called on the government to clear the mess.

Passengers, who live around Ilasamaja and environs, said the traffic became bad at the beginning of the year, and got worse of recent.

The traffic was compounded by the deplorable roads which have huge craters.

Some policemen and officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) were seen trying to decongest the traffic.

Commercial buses jacked up fare between 50 and 100 percent.

They charged N150 from Ilasamaja to Oshodi as against N50.

According to an eyewitness, Kaseem Aremu, the accident involved two tankers and a trailer carrying a loaded container.

He blamed the potholes on the road for the accident

“Two tankers had already trapped on the road before the trailer arrived. The driver thought he could manoeuvre his way before the tyres slipped off. The container fell off but was blocked by the tanker. The trailer driver should have waited for the better side of the road to be cleared instead of trying to manoeuvre his way along the deep side of the potholes,” Aremu said.

Balarabe Abdullahi, who drove the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) tanker, said he was going to Abuja.

Abdullahi, who hails from Kano State, said the accident occurred around 1am.

He blamed the bad road for the accident.

“The road is not good. My motor enters (sic) inside the potholes. I am going to Abuja. This other vehicle (trailer) hit my motor as well. It is only when they remove the trailer that they will be able to remove my own motor. I am carrying 40,000 litres of petrol. I am coming from Apapa and taking the petrol to Suleja in Abuja. I have called my boss to tell him what happened and he is on his way,” he said.

He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to fix the bad roads.

“There are so many bad roads in the country; it is killing our business. The journey from Lagos to Abuja takes us up to four days as a result of traffic congestion caused by bad roads but if there is no traffic congestion, we spend just two days,” he said.

Isolo Command Head of Lagos State Fire Service, Taiwo Olusanya said they have been able neutralised the spilled fuel to avert fire.

“The leaking fuel can ignite fire; since we cannot block the leakage, the best way is to neutralise the fuel so as not to catch fire at any slightest ignition. It is a system of blanketing the fuel on the road. If there is any spark now, it won’t catch fire,” Olusanya said

THE NATION