Adebayo Adenrele
…Father begs Governor Oyebanji for intervention
It was a tragic incident at Oke-Ila, Aramoko-Ekiti as a heavy-duty truck belonging to business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote rammed into the house of a resident, Rufus Farotimi, killing his 21-year old son, Promise Farotimi, a 300-level student of Building Technology at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), who was asleep at the time.
According to reports, the driver identified as Shuaibu Yusuf fled the scene while residents apprehended the driver’s assistant, popularly known as an “operator boy.”
Speaking with journalists, the father, Rufus Farotimi, appealed to concerned authorities, seeking for justice after a truck driver rammed into his residence, crushed his son to death and rendered his family homeless in Aramoko-Ekiti.
The distraught father described the twin loss of his child and home as devastating, saying the accident has left him with nothing.
His words, “My son was the one killed and I am the owner of the house. This accident has destroyed my house. I’ve lost my child and my shelter. I don’t even have clothes anymore; what I’m wearing was given to me by my younger brother.
Farotimi added that documents recovered from the vehicle at the scene, including waybills, showed the truck was transporting natural gypsum and bore a company letterhead, identifying the driver as Shuaibu Yusuf.
While acknowledging that law enforcement officers evacuated his son’s body and commenced investigations, he lamented that the driver remains at large three days after the incident.
He appealed to Governor Biodun Oyebanji for his intervention, urging authorities to intensify efforts to apprehend the suspect and called on the company linked to the truck to take responsibility.
“It has been three days, and no one has come to remove the vehicle. I am begging them to come and do what is necessary”.
Farotimi also decried the poor state of the road, describing it as a long-standing hazard worsened by speeding heavy-duty vehicles, saying, ‘this road is very bad and always busy with heavy-duty vehicles, and they are always speeding,” he added.
A neighbour and community leader, Caroline Ogunleye, corroborated his concerns, describing the incident as preventable and blaming reckless driving and the deteriorating condition of the road.
“Truck drivers are always speeding on this road, and the condition of the road makes it worse. Another accident even happened this morning after this incident”.
She recalled that similar tragedies had occurred in the area, including an accident three years ago that reportedly claimed the lives of two siblings.
Ogunleye urged companies operating heavy-duty trucks to prioritise vehicle maintenance and employ experienced drivers, warning that the rising rate of such accidents is alarming.
She also called on the government to urgently fix the abandoned road project and introduce measures to regulate traffic and curb speeding.
Findings showed that the Ado-Aramoko-Itawure Road, a major federal route in Ekiti State, has long been plagued by heavy-duty traffic.
The road links Ado-Ekiti to Efon-Alaaye and Ilesa in Osun State, serving as a key transit corridor connecting the South-West to the North, with frequent movement of trucks heading towards Lagos-Ibadan and Kogi State.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti State Police Command, SP Sunday Abutu, confirmed the tragic incident, saying the case has been transferred to the State Traffic Section for thorough investigation.
