The owner of AZAB Mega Filling Station, the popular petrol station facing Federal Low Cost Housing Estate along Itoikin road, Alhaji Lukman Smith, is dead.
He was among the five persons who lost their lives in a boat accident which took place on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, inside the Oworoshoki Waters of the Lagos Lagoon.
The boat disaster also took the life of a Judicial officer, Mrs. Temitope Edema, and three others while fifteen (15) persons were injured.
The twenty (20) passenger boat was said to be returning from Lagos Island to Ipakodo Jetty, when the accident happened, killing four females and a male passengers.
An eye witness told Oriwu Sun that the accident occurred suspectedly as a result of over speeding resulting in the boat hitting an object which capsized it.
Some people think otherwise, suggesting that the boat might have struck a storm or a strong wave.
A witness said that when the accident occurred, the boat captain told the passengers not to plunge in the water but they did not heed the advice.
A senior accountant with the Lagos State Judiciary, Mrs. Temitope Edema, was another prominent person who died in this mishap. Herself and Alhaji Smith were in their 50’s,
It was a busy day at the Ikorodu General Hospital where friends, associates and relations of the victims rushed to with grief to see the dead and the wounded. The families of Smith and Edema described the death of their relations as a big and irreparable loss.
Source told Oriwu Sun that Alhaji Smith, who lived along Eruwen area of Ikorodu, had gone to Lagos for a business transaction and had parked his car at the Ebute jetty when the accident occurred in the Blue boat he was returning with. He never lived to drive home the car he parked at the jetty.
When Oriwu Sun visited the multi-million naira jetty at Ebute, an official said they had suspended operations for the meantime. Some people who came to the jetty wondered why Governor Ambode’s government will not provide standard boats to ply the water ways, considering the huge amount spent on jetties across the state.
They argued that the urge for people to use water transportation is not being encouraged by these rickety boats and the wave of accidents on waterways such as the one that occurred at the Majidun jetty some years ago.
As at the time Oriwu Sun visited Ebute jetty, more than two hundred (200) cars were still parked there by people using the ferry.
It is still unclear what happened to the life jackets which every passenger in a boat is supposed to have and to use in times of emergency. Some said the life jackets are as rickety as the boats plying the waters.
Meanwhile, the family of the late Alhaji Smith held the fidau prayers of their departed father on Wednesday, August 1, 2018, as the Azab Mega filling station he owned remained shut for days.