One of the most prominent Ifa priests in the world, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon, has advised Nigerians to ensure that their vehicles are in good condition while drivers should be in the right frame of mind before setting out to drive on the roads.
He also called on the government to rehabilitate roads and restrict the movement of heavy-duty trucks to the night in order to reduce frequent accidents and carnage on Nigerian roads.
The Ifa priest, who is a visiting lecturer at the San Francisco State University in California, United States, said the number of needless deaths recorded daily on Nigerian roads would drastically reduce if Nigerians began to obey traffic rules and do other necessary things while urging them to stop blaming the gods for their negligence.
He said,
“It is true that there may be tragedies in various forms if we refused to make sacrifices to some deities. But I don’t think the accidents on Otedola Bridge in Lagos, happened because the gods were angry.
“The three statues erected there are not gods. They are sculptures made by artists and I think they were put there as decoration. We need to examine ourselves as government and as individuals.
A roasted-corn seller simply identified as Mama Favour, described the situation as very horrible and that she had yet to recover from the shock, despite the fact that it happened about two days ago (Thursday).
“I was at my stand roasting corn and hoping to finish all the fresh corn that I brought from the market on that Thursday morning,” she said as she turned her corn so that it doesn’t get burnt.
An artisan, Mr. John Okoro, however, disagreed insisting,
He said, “This thing is not ordinary, anyone who is deceived should better wake up. Bad things are always happening at this same spot. How do you explain a situation where the tanker driver and the motor boy would escape without a scratch and several other people would die?”
Another roadside trader said she also had a premonition of the incident, a day before it happened.
“On that fateful day, I was feeling funny so I decided not to come out only for me to hear the news of what happened. I wasn’t surprised but of course I felt bad that people lost their lives. I called my sister’s attention to what I told her about some strange people that I saw on the bridge. I also told her that wasn’t the end of it.
