OKE-AFA BRIDGE TURNS DEATH TRAP

It was a Monday morning at the gate of the popular Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos. Folasade, 43, a mother of three, had woken up early enough. She had prepared her kids early enough, ready to drop them off at school and then hurry to catch a bus to her destination. Sadly, that would be her last trip on earth.

As usual, traffic had become really chaotic on that route that morning. Workers, traders, artisans, school children and others were all rushing to get to their various destinations. The bus stops had become disorganized with commuters scrambling for the few buses that came their way since many of them had been held up in the endless gridlock.

On such occasions, all the road networks leading to Oke-Afa, Isolo and Ejigbo and other communities nearby usually witness heavy traffic.

Private car owners and other road users had the okada, ubiquitous motorbike operators to contend with. These two groups of road users seem eternally locked in a verbal war on who has the right of way. Commuters who were in a hurry had a good alternative in okada riders while some others would prefer to trek down from the Jakande Estate gate towards the roundabout at the popular Pako Bus Stop on Isolo-Egbe Road.

For this 'cross-over' to be possible and for people to have access to Isolo or any other community in the area, one has to walk across the Oke-Afa Bridge on foot. And so, Folasade had joined other pedestrians to do this 'cross over' on the bridge so as to move on to her destination. But she never made it.

While her co-trekkers successfully crossed over, she fell into the canal under the Oke-Afa Bridge. Her hands slipped off the rail of the bridge while she was trying to avoid vehicles and okada riders, thus bringing an end to a mother's dreams and aspirations. Cut down in her prime, the woman had lost her life. With this tragic incident, a crowd of wailers instantly gathered, not to save her life because it was practically impossible, but to mourn the death of a defenceless, innocent woman.

Indeed, the Oke-Afa Bridge has become a death trap, and people who walk daily on it when traffic builds up could be said to be walking on a landmine. At peak periods of the day, the fate of poor pedestrians can only be likened to the saying that when two elephants fight, the grass bears the brunt. Such was the fate suffered by the late Folasade.

The bridge is significant for a number of reasons. Aside from the fact that it is the only link to Ejigbo and its environs, on one side of it stands the monument built in memory of the 2002 victims of the Ikeja bomb blast.

Apart from the annual ritual of driving through the bridge to pay homage to the site by the Lagos State government functionaries, the Oke-Afa Bridge has not received government attention since its construction. It is not very clear whether the bridge has had any kind of facelift in the last two decades.

The dilapidated structure, which has seen better days as a result of wear and tear occasioned by heavy vehicular traffic congestion, has lost almost everything that once held it together as a bridge. The rails have all broken off. What is left of the structure is virtually worn out, leaving the rails shaky. There is no light anywhere on the bridge to indicate that a vehicle is approaching. It is also very narrow such that pedestrians struggle with what is left with racing motorcyclists. To say that it is begging for rehabilitation is merely stating the obvious.

On the bridge is also an endless feast of robbery and tales of woes everyday by people who walk on the bridge. Aside from being robbed by hoodlums on speeding motorbikes or being knocked down by reckless operators, people have encountered different problems while walking on the bridge. In fact, walking on the bridge is just like walking through the shadow of death, especially at night. The late Folasade was just one of those who have met their untimely deaths on the bridge.

Babalola Kodesho, a resident of the area told Daily Sun: 'It is always like punishment anytime I'm forced by circumstances to walk through the Oke-Afa Bridge. In fact, I walk with my heart literally in my mouth because it is so dangerous. It is either you are knocked down by the okada riders or you are pushed into the gutters. I try not to pass through it whenever I can.'

For Jude Otuonye, the story is not different. 'I don't like walking on the bridge,' he said. 'I feel very unsafe. It is so bad that whenever I am forced to, I am practically running from cars and okada. I don't like to hold the rails for any reason and I think that one day, the bridge might collapse with the way it is going.'