Families are left grieving after hit-and-run crashes killed riders and left others with life-changing injuries on Ogun State roads and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. In one case on November 25, 2024, a woman selling haircare supplies was struck on the Magboro stretch of the expressway and left unconscious on the carriageway as passing motorists gathered to help.
Witnesses described clothing and hair extensions scattered across the road after a car sped past. A neighbour who arrived at the scene identified the victim only as "Mummy Favour," saying the woman lived in Magboro and ran a shop near a church camp. A commercial bus driver later took her to the nearest hospital in Ibafo, but those who helped could not be reached to confirm whether she survived.
The pattern repeated in Ogun State a year later with the fatal collision that killed Mayowa Afinni, a 2024 first-class honours graduate of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, who worked as a dispatch rider among other jobs. On September 12, Afinni, popularly known as Mayorwhiz, was riding a Qlink dispatch motorcycle near the MKO Abiola Stadium in the Kuto area of Abeokuta when he was struck by a red Lexus ES 350. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his remains were taken to a general hospital in a Federal Road Safety Corps van.
Two male occupants of the Lexus reportedly fled after the crash. Police records show the driver, identified as Ebenezer Oluwaseyi, was arrested and later appeared before the Isabo Magistrates' Court in Abeokuta. The 22-year-old pleaded not guilty to a four-count charge including murder, damage to property, reckless driving and driving without a valid licence.
The prosecutor, Evelyn Motim, told the court that Oluwaseyi had been driving an unregistered 2007 Lexus ES 350 and alleged his conduct amounted to reckless driving that destroyed the motorcycle and endangered other road users. "This act of negligence and reckless driving should not be tolerated by anyone," she said. The offences are cited under Sections 5, 6, 7 and 10 of Act Cap. F13, Laws of the Federation applicable in Ogun, 2004.
These incidents underline a recurring consequence for victims and their families: sudden loss, medical uncertainty and the challenge of securing accountability when drivers flee. In at least one case a suspect has been arraigned and denied guilt; the criminal process against him remains under the jurisdiction of the Ogun courts.
