AKUNGBA ACCIDENT: WE FORGET THINGS QUICKLY

Scene of the January 23rd accident

David Idowu

 It saddens me to walk you down this horrible memory lane of January 23rd, 2021 in the ancient town of  Akungba-Akoko in Akoko Southwest Local Government Area of Ondo State, where everything seems to be going peacefully until a death machinery in a form of a Dangote truck plunged into roadside shops along Akungba-Ikare road leaving many dead.

 A bad memory to recall, promising lives were lost, beautiful roses were gruesomely plucked off before their prime. It's indeed without doubts, a heartbreaking event that sent fear down the spines of the mighty, Akungba was thrown into disarray, Ondo state mourned bitterly. The scars of this ugly accident are still illuminating on Akungba as things have never been the same on the site of the ugly occurrence.

 Reacting to one of the intimate causes of this ill-fated accident, aggrieved youths of the community mounted barricades at different strategic places to prevent heavy-duty trucks from plying the Akungba-Ikare road. This development came as a relief to many because it was perceived to be a temporary solution till the Federal/State Government decides to renovate the road.

 Interestingly, the barricades helped in reducing rate of accidents along the road, with the barricades at Iwaro and Okerigbo, there has been a significant reduction of traffic on the Ikare-Akungba road; in-bound Akungba.

 Fast forward to three (3) months later, it's quite appalling that we've forgotten what happened, the scars of the accident is still heavily present on the hearts of every family who lost a soul to the disaster, but the people of Akungba seems to have forgotten as heavy-duty trucks are gradually coming back on the road.

 Adesomoju Samuel Tobi (Sampraise), Olayemi Agboola, Ayodele Ben Ojinni, Pope Kelvin Ojinni, with their step-sister; Oluwaseun Ojinni would still be alive today pursuing the next goal of their promising lives if not for the negligence and nonchalant attitude of every concerned stakeholder who left the road unattended to. Before this ugly accident, there have been various signs that pointed to the urgency of fixing the road, yet they were defiant.

 Another negligence put upon us by residents of Akungba has left our two eyes opened yet we are blind to the presence of these trucks on our roads again. About a few days back a fully loaded Dangote heavy-duty truck almost plunged into other vehicles due to brake failure while battling to mount the Okerigbo hill, it could have been another sorry story again.

 As a first-hand witness of the January 23rd accident, I'll never pray at any point that Akungba should witness such again, but with the presence of these trucks, another ugly accident is bound to happen if we don't rise to the occasion and reinstate the ban on these trucks. It's visible to the blind that the road needs an expansion as it's too small to contain the traffic that's expected of a federal road, but since the Federal/State Government has refused to attend to it, we must do well in our little way to prevent a future reoccurrence.

 Self-help they say; it's the best form of help. we shouldn't wait any longer before we stop these trucks from plying our roads, victims of the January 23rd accident witnessed series of previous accidents before the one that took their lives, who knows who the next victim might be?. It aches my heart to conceive the reality that we forget things quickly in this part of the world.