Tragedy as bus driver sets self ablaze

The Lagos State Police Command says it is investigating the case of a bus driver who set himself ablaze, on Tuesday.

What started as a routine squabble between a commercial bus driver and officials of the Lagos State traffic task force, at Ajao Estate area of Lagos, turned tragic when the unidentified driver set himself on fire.

RELIABLESOURCENG.COM learnt that the driver was arrested for allegedly violating the state traffic laws. But in protest and apparent bid to prevent officials of the task force from impounding his vehicle set himself on fire.

Witnesses said while the driver was trying to see how he could remedy the situation by begging the officers, one of them forcefully took over the steering wheel from him.

Sensing that the officials were about taking his bus away, the driver reportedly grabbed a petrol-filled container in the bus and emptied its content on himself.

He was said to have brought out a lighter from his pocket and set himself ablaze.

Some of the witnesses said that they heard the driver saying that it was better to die than to live and watch his only means of livelihood taken away from him.

On seeing what was happening to their colleague, other drivers sympathetic to his course converged and started pelting the task force officials with stones.

READ: LASTMA official stoned to death clearing traffic

Soon the drivers were joined by some ‘Area Boys’ to attack the state government officials.

Other drivers parked their buses and tried to put out the fire on the burning man.

One of the witnesses said the situation caused heavy traffic and pandemonium as motorists abandoned their vehicles while commuters scampered for safety.

According to the witness, the driver was rushed to a hospital, “but I don’t think he will survive the burns. The damage done on him was colossal.” 

The spokesman for the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), Olumide Filade, did not responded to calls to his phone, but the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, had ordered an investigation into the incident.

“The information we got was that there was resistance when task force from the ministry of transportation went for enforcement. “No policeman set any vehicle ablaze; policemen attached to the Ajao Estate Police Division were not involved in what happened. However, the Commissioner of Police has ordered investigation into the incident,” Ajisebutu said.