Cruel fate: Director trapped, dies in car fire
Hammed Adebayo, Director of Finance and Administration, Habol
Petroleum Limited, left office last Monday night with a strict
instruction to his employees to be at work the following day Tuesday,
latest by 6am, so he could crosscheck if there was any shortage in the
quantity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) sold to consumers. He had warned
them that if any shortage was discovered, the amount involved would be
deducted from the salaries of those who were on duty at the time.
Unfortunately, Adebayo never made it home that day let alone coming out
again the following day as he was caught up in an inferno that claimed
his life.
According to eyewitness reports, a reckless driver who was
carrying inflammable liquid in a truck had hit a vehicle at Igando area
of Lagos and in a flurry of anger, the driver of the vehicle pursued
the truck driver and in a bid to escape, the careless truck driver
switched off the headlights of his truck and while moving in a
breath-taking speed, hit a stationary vehicle which immediately
exploded in flames.
Adebayo who was trying to avoid the fire veered
off the and hit the culvert by the roadside. The driver’s door, it was
learnt, was pinned to the culvert and there was no time to quickly get
down from the other front door. Within seconds, his saloon car was
caught up in flames with him inside it. The residents of the
area,firstclass newsline learnt, made desperate efforts to put out the
fire by pouring sand and water on the vehicle but with the intensity of
the fire, they couldn’t do much. His burnt body was found by the fire
fighters who had to cut off the top of the vehicle to get his remains
out. Nothing from the car including a sum of N100,000.00, a laptop and a
phone could be saved.
On Tuesday morning, an employee of Adebayo who identified himself as Sunday was at the scene of the accident.
He disclosed that they all left work at the same time but he and a
friend dropped at Badore bus stop. An hour later, Adebayo’s wife called
his friend to complain that she had not seen her husband. They called
Adebayo’s cell phones but he was not answering the calls. Scared that
their car had been attacked by armed robbers, they ran out to trace him.
On the way, policemen warned them to take the other route as there was a
fire incident ahead. He said: “We heard that the vehicles involved
were jeeps and when I reached the scene, I knew it was C.M’s vehicle.”
Residents of the area said they thought it was a transformer but when
they saw the fire burning, they knew it was more than that; probably a
fuel tanker. What they never expected was the intensity of the fire,
number of deaths and destruction it left. They also complained about the
time the fire fighters from Ikotun arrived at the scene.
Adejare
Adams, a resident who spoke to firstclass newsline said the people were
quite upset by their attitude. He said; “Look at Ikotun Fire Service
Station. It is just behind here. They didn’t come on time before the
people got burnt. That’s what is so upsetting about Nigeria. They are
never prepared for emergencies. A lot of people were angry. They almost
beat up the fire fighters. I saw the Honda man’s phone. It was burnt.
The phone battery and the man’s laptop were destroyed.” Adams expressed
anger at the people who refused to help salvage the situation but
instead, opened the trailers to carry crates of beer to drink.
An
official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) who was
one of those sent to control traffic said they had warned trailer
drivers not to park on the road. He said; “The drivers park their
trailers but hang around. We have warned them several times not to park
on the road. If the trailers did not park on the road, there is a high
possibility that this accident would not have occurred. Instead, the
truck would have crashed into the gutter.”
The eldest brother of the
late Adebayo, Akeem Hameed, who spoke for the family, told firstclass
newsline that he was called at 11:50p.m by his younger sister who was
hysteric about Bayo not yet home. Bayo had earlier told his wife he
wanted to eatfufufor dinner. When he didn’t get home, she got worried.
He decided to check the road thinking he had been kidnapped till he was
told by policemen to keep away from the other lane. When he got there,
he saw the burnt vehicle but he never believed his brother was in there.
He ran into the general hospital hoping to see his brother among the
survivors but he was not there. He then went back to check the vehicle
and saw the burnt body of his younger brother in it.
Akeem disclosed
that the brother who was a chartered accountant worked at Adeniran
Ogunsanya College of Education’s Bursary Department while supervising
operations at Habol Petroleum, the family business. Contradicting the
story spread by the residents of Alhaji Ede area that the errant driver
hit Bayo, he stated emphatically that his brother’s vehicle had no
dents. He said: “He was not hit. Till the top of the vehicle was cut and
his body removed, there was no dent on it. The position in which I saw
the car, it was not hit. The car was standing alone. It had no dent or
sign of impact. He uses air conditioner in his vehicle so I believe it
was the gas from the vehicle that attracted the fire.”
Akeem who had
not set his eyes on his mother since the accident said he would rather
other people console her. He mentioned that she was taken to a cousin’s
place at Lekki and their house locked so she could have enough rest.
Giving glowing tribute on how hardworking and prayerful his brother
was, he stated that the deceased should not have died in such a
gruesome manner.
“Bayo is anAlfa. He is disciplined. He doesn’t
drink, smoke, womanize or stay out late. He condemns smoking and
drinking of beer and even buying of beer for people. He doesn’t like
parties. Even when we have parties in our house, he condemns it. All he
does is view premiership matches, go to work and go home. He was about
completing his home before his death. We had dreams to expand the
petroleum company but ….. We couldn’t take all his remains that night.
We went back to look for his remaining body parts on Tuesday evening.”
Akeem said for everybody in the world, death is inevitable and what has
been destined to happen cannot be changed except by prayers and
goodwill. Since this has happened, all they can do is to pray for their
brother.
Adebayo’s wife has not been able to accept the fact that her husband is dead as she has been inconsolable.
The fire incident also killed four other people and left two men,
Eferhobo Lucky and Ogbodo Sunday aged 57 and 29 years respectively,
both of Owode Idiroko, Ogun State, critically injured.
They were
rushed to Igando General Hospital for treatment and were later
transferred to Gbagada General Hospital for further treatment. The case
is still under investigation at Igando Police Division.
11/10/2014
Cruel fate: Director trapped, dies in car fire
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