Witnesses blamed the traffic control agency for causing the accident, saying it wouldn't have happened if they had not pursued the driver to the path of the oncoming vehicle.
One person has died and eight more are injured as a result of an accident caused by a commercial bus driver trying to evade arrest by officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA)on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The scene of the accident was just opposite the spot of the petrol tanker explosion of Thursday.
The LASTMA officers were on their way out of the scene of the tanker explosion when they spotted the bus driver, driving against the traffic. When they moved to apprehend him, the 'Danfo' driver tried to evade them by swerving to the other side of the road bit ended up only colliding with another bus.
The pick-up vehicle conveying the LASTMA officers hurriedly left the scene, while one of the LASTMA officials ran into a near-by bush to escape from the people who had rushed to the scene.
Witnesses blamed the traffic control agency for causing the accident, saying it wouldn't have happened if they had not pursued the driver to the path of the oncoming vehicle.
Officals of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were at the scene of the tanker explosion to take the injured to the hospital, but one died on the spot.
The driver of the other vehicle said he was coming from Akure and his journey had been good before the accident.
“I was coming from Akure this morning and it has been good," he said. "Those LASTMA people caused this. They chased the man into me and they ran off. I want my boss to come here before they tow the vehicle away.”
Another witness said: “The excesses of LASTMA officers in Lagos are too much. They pursue vehicles and when they arrest them, all they want is money. That was how they detained my husband’s bus for months too. This is too much.”