AGULU, ANAMBRA STATE — A Friday evening that began with the solemnity of a final farewell ended in a horrific massacre on the asphalt, as scores of mourners returning from a burial ceremony lost their lives in a devastating truck accident at the notorious Agulu Lake axis.
The tragedy, which unfolded on the steep descent toward the narrow Agulu Lake bridge along the Awka–Ekwulobia road, has plunged Anambra State into mourning and reignited a fierce public outcry over what residents describe as a “death trap” ignored by successive governments.
A Descent into Chaos
Eyewitness accounts describe a harrowing scene. The truck, heavily laden with guests returning from a funeral, appeared to lose its braking capacity while navigating the treacherous hill leading down to the water. Unable to shed speed, the vehicle careened out of control, eventually plunging into a catastrophic crash that left the roadside littered with the personal effects of the deceased.
As the sun set over the lake, the air was thick with the wails of survivors and the frantic shouts of emergency responders. Local sympathisers battled alongside officials to pull bodies from the wreckage, though the exact death toll remained fluid as victims were rushed to nearby morgues and hospitals.
The “Single-Lane” Deathtrap
For the residents of Agulu, this was not a random act of fate, but a disaster long foretold. The structural design of the road has been a point of contention for years. At the heart of the crisis is a bottleneck: a dual carriageway that abruptly transitions into a narrow, single-lane bridge at the bottom of a steep, winding hill.
“This has been a disaster waiting to happen,” one resident told reporters at the scene, standing amidst the debris. “Vehicles approach this bridge at high speeds from the hills on both sides. When a heavy-duty truck loses its brakes on this gradient, there is nowhere for it to go. We have begged for a second bridge to separate ascending and descending traffic, but our cries have fallen on deaf ears.”
A Nation of Funerals
The Agulu tragedy adds another layer of grief to a week already defined by a “harvest of blood” across Nigeria:
- The Northern Siege: In Kebbi, worshippers were massacred in a mosque by Lakurawa terrorists, while Governor Bala Mohammed warns of 10,000 bandits in Bauchi.
- Vanishing Children: In Gombe, Governor Inuwa Yahaya has sounded the alarm over 48 “stolen” children allegedly trafficked across borders.
- Political Siege: In Benin City, Olumide Akpata SAN is decrying a “double drive-by” shooting at Chief Oyegun’s house as an “attack on democracy.”
The Cost of Inertia
As grieving families thronged the Agulu Lake corridor on Friday night, the anger directed at the government was palpable. While the Abuja “regency” manages a $9 million U.S. lobbying fund and political leaders celebrate mass defections in Adamawa, the basic safety of Nigerian commuters remains an afterthought.
The Agulu Lake bridge stands as a monument to infrastructural neglect. Until a second bridge is constructed to ease the bottleneck, residents fear that every burial in the area will carry the risk of becoming a second funeral for those who come to pay their respects.
