Witnesses said the crash left several passengers injured, with some trapped inside the vehicle and others thrown onto the roadside.
Members of the Take-It-Back Movement (TIB) on Friday rescued victims of a road accident along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway while returning from Kiribo, an incident the group said exposed persistent failures in Nigeria’s emergency response system.
The accident occurred at Lufuwape, shortly after the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Camp, when a commercial bus conveying men and women of Hausa origin somersaulted following a tyre burst.
Witnesses said the crash left several passengers injured, with some trapped inside the vehicle and others thrown onto the roadside.
In a statement signed by the Lagos State Coordinator of the Take It Back Movement, Comrade Adekunle Adeyemi Taofeeq, the group said its members came upon the scene while travelling back from Kiribo and immediately stopped to assist.
“Today, we witnessed what could have been a mass tragedy,” the statement said. “A bus conveying some Hausa men and women somersaulted at Lufuwape, just after the Redeem Camp, after a tyre burst. The sight was terrifying.”
According to the movement, its members did not hesitate to intervene.
“Without thinking twice, we jumped out of our vehicle to rescue the victims,” the statement said.
Although no deaths were recorded at the scene, the group said about five to six commuters sustained severe, life-threatening injuries and required urgent medical attention.
The statement said attempts to secure an official emergency response were initially unsuccessful.
According to TIB, a call was placed to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the Redeem Police Division, who promised to deploy officers to the scene but failed to do so.
“We called the DPO, Redeemed Division, hoping for an urgent response. He promised to come to the scene with his men. We waited. He never showed up,” the movement said.
The situation was eventually brought under control through the intervention of a medical professional among the TIB members, Comrade Folayemi Akinfolarin, who contacted emergency services and coordinated communication with responders.
“Emergency services were contacted immediately, all necessary details were provided, and within minutes, an ambulance arrived to convey the injured to the hospital,” the statement noted.
Beyond the response of authorities, the movement also criticised what it described as widespread public indifference at the accident scene.
“What broke my hearts most was that while lives hung in the balance, many people stood around doing nothing but taking pictures,” Adekunle Adeyemi Taofeeq said.
Reflecting on the incident, the movement questioned what might have happened if there had been no immediate civilian intervention.
“We keep asking ourselves: what if we weren’t there? What if this accident didn’t happen right before our eyes? What would have been the fate of those victims?” the statement read.
The Take It Back Movement said the incident highlighted deeper systemic problems.
“This experience exposes a painful truth about our society, poor emergency response, institutional failure, and a growing culture of indifference. Lives are lost not always because help is unavailable, but because people and authorities fail to act when it matters most. We must do better. Lives depend on it,” the statement added.
The group called on relevant authorities to urgently strengthen emergency response mechanisms along major highways, particularly the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, while urging citizens to prioritise empathy and action during emergencies.