Ten people died and six others were injured after a road crash on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at Sapade Bridge in Ogun State on Sunday night, the Federal Road Safety Corps confirmed.
The accident involved a white Sinotruk Dangote truck and a Toyota Hiace bus with registration number EKY 290 YM. FRSC’s Ogun Sector Command said the crash happened at approximately 8:05 p.m.
Eighteen people were involved in total, according to the sector command. The breakdown included 15 adult males, two adult females, and one male child.
FRSC Confirms Fatalities: Nine Men and One Child Dead
The Ogun Sector Command’s spokesperson, Superintendent Route Commander Odunsi Afolabi, confirmed the death toll. Nine adult males and one male child were among those who lost their lives at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway crash scene.
Four adult males and two adult females survived with varying degrees of injury, Afolabi said. The six injured victims were taken for medical attention, though the receiving hospital was not disclosed in the initial statement.
The cause of the crash was not immediately stated by FRSC in its early communication. Whether the truck or the bus was responsible for the collision remained unclear as of the time of filing this report. Further investigation is ongoing, the command indicated.
Sapade Bridge is a known accident-prone stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Commercial vehicles and heavy-duty trucks share the road regularly along that corridor, and nighttime driving conditions on that expressway are a recurring safety concern raised by road safety authorities.
Dangote Truck Involvement Raises Heavy Vehicle Safety Questions
The involvement of a Dangote-branded Sinotruk in the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway crash has drawn attention to the continued use of heavy commercial vehicles on the route after dark. Dangote Cement has one of the largest truck fleets operating across Nigerian highways, and road safety groups have previously called for stricter enforcement of nighttime haulage regulations.
FRSC has not yet commented on whether the truck driver was detained or whether any charges are being considered. The federation did not provide further details on the state of the driver or whether speed, mechanical failure, or driver fatigue contributed to the incident.
The Toyota Hiace bus, which bore an Ekiti State registration, was heading in a direction that FRSC did not specify in its statement. Intercity commercial buses using the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway are a fixture of road traffic on that route, with passengers regularly traveling between Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, and states further north.
FRSC Ogun Sector Steps Up Response After Sapade Bridge Tragedy
FRSC officers from the Ogun Sector Command responded to the scene following the crash. Emergency responders worked to evacuate the injured and retrieve those who had died, though details of how long the response took were not immediately available.
The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway remains one of the busiest and most dangerous intercity roads in Nigeria. Accidents on this route, particularly involving heavy trucks and commercial buses, have claimed many lives over the years. Road safety agencies have repeatedly urged motorists to avoid night travel on the expressway where possible.
Ogun State government officials had not issued a statement on the incident at the time this report was filed. The National Emergency Management Agency’s involvement, if any, was also not confirmed.
Afolabi urged road users to remain cautious, particularly at night, and called on drivers of heavy vehicles to adhere strictly to speed limits and loading regulations on the expressway. He did not give further operational detail on what FRSC planned to do at that specific stretch of road going forward.
Sunday night crashes on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway are not uncommon, as increased traffic volume from weekend travelers returning to Lagos contributes to road pressure. Authorities have not confirmed whether the bus was fully loaded at the time of the collision or how many seats it carried.
The FRSC Ogun Sector Command said it would release a fuller statement as investigations continue into the Sapade Bridge road crash.
