Road users lament neglect, police extortion at Jakande gate deathtrap
THE Jakande Estate gate in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area ( LCDA) is infamous for bad roads, gridlock and refuse heaps, which motorists commuting through the axis to Ikotun, Igando, Okota, Isolo and environs have lamented as deplorable and dangerous.
However, many other road users are unaware of a deathtrap right at the entrance of Jakande Estate. It is a knee- length hole wide enough to take two tyres placed beside each other.
Commuters’ experiences after accidentally running into the ditch and the ensuing gnashing of teeth that followed have been described as harrowing. It is not just the hole, but a few metres forward, there are three other deathtraps going into the estate and onward to Isheri and Ijegun. Since the start of the rainy season, it has been regular cases of damaged vehicles and traffic snarls. Even pedestrians often get ditched in. The Guardian observed yesterday that the potholes were getting wider as they damaged more vehicles and caused heavy gridlocks.
Worrisome is the fact that the LCDA has left the failed portions of the estate road unattended to despite the obvious dangers posed to road users.
Unsuspecting motorists are often warned by passersby and roadside traders at the bus stop, but at night, motorists are left at the mercy of hoodlums waiting to either pounce on victims and rob them of their valuables or offer to render assistance by pushing out vehicles from the ditch for ‘ ransom.’
Those who can’t take the risk of crawling through the ditches at night and who venture making a quick dash on the other lane fall into the waiting but menacing arms of policemen, who delightfully lead the arrested motorist to their station for ‘ settlement’.
Residents have called on the development council to urgently fix the failed portions as a permanent solution to the dangers commuters are exposed to, as previous repair works carried out on the roads don’t last a few months.