El-Roi, who saw us through 2025, into 2026, we come before you with heavy hearts, lifting Anthony Joshua and everyone affected by this tragic road crash. Lord, You are the God of mercy, comfort, and justice, and nothing is hidden from Your sight.
We ask that You surround Anthony with Your peace in this difficult moment. Grant him strength of mind, clarity of heart, and the grace to endure whatever lies ahead. Let Your presence calm every fear and steady every troubled thought.
Father, we commit the souls of the departed into Your loving hands. May You grant them eternal rest, and may Your light shine upon them. Comfort their families and loved ones, give them solace, healing, and the assurance that You are near to the brokenhearted. Lord, where there is pain, bring healing; where there is confusion, bring truth; where there is grief, bring comfort.
Let justice be guided by wisdom, fairness, and compassion. May this tragedy remind us of the fragility of life and the importance of care, responsibility, and love for one another on our roads and in our daily lives as we navigate through 2026 in Jesus’ mighty name.
May we always remember that during high traffic volumes, the risk on our roads rises too; help us to drive responsibly because every life matters and every safe decision counts. Please, help us to abide by the rules and help the Government at all levels to prioritize safety and security by providing all the tools/infrastructure needed by the Federal Road Safety Corps and other first responder Agencies to be prompt, committed, effective, and efficient in Jesus’ mighty name.
Since this unfortunate tragedy, I have read all kinds of commentaries, analyses, and submissions by both those with the facts and those with hearsay information. Some have condemned it. Others have hailed efforts by spirited passersby in demonstration of our diversity, Nigerianness, and humanity.
For the record, what happened was not an accident, but a road crash which occurred when a black Lexus SUVÂ Â Â conveying Anthony Joshua, on Monday, December 20, 2025, in Makun, the rural part of Ogun state, crashed into a stationary red commercial Sinotruck near Lagos.
It occurred along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway near the Sagamu interchange on the Ibadan-bound axis. And eyewitnesses who are usually the first responders in most crashes, heroically began rescue efforts before the Federal Road Safety Corps first responders arrived three minutes after the crash, followed by the police.
We read that before the ambulance got there, the former World boxing champion was moved to a hospital. Meanwhile, the deaths that occurred, we are told, were not caused by negligence as the two who died in the crash died on the spot due to collision trauma from excessive speed.
Official report suspected speed, reckless driving, and tyre burst as probable causative factors responsible for the crash. Commentators and commentaries lampooned the failure of emergencies and ambulances to arrive at the scene, and other failures that I would rather not rehash here.
My focus on this tragedy is to do a two-part piece looking at the issues, hoping that we learn a lesson or two to avert other tragedies. I will address these issues, starting with those who singled out the parked truck for crucifixion and, by extension, the Agencies of government, such as the Corps and Police.
For starters, where was the parked/abandoned truck? Was the parked truck the culprit? For the record, following the videos in circulation, it was parked on the hard shoulder, which is permitted by the provisions of National Road Traffic Regulations, the Highway Code, as well as laws in both developed and developing countries.
The hard shoulder is part of a highway or expressway infrastructure. It is a paved emergency lane on the side of a motorway or highway, separated by a solid white or yellow line or other road markings. It is designed for vehicles to stop safely in case of breakdowns or emergencies, and to allow emergency services to bypass congestion, only for emergency purposes.
It is called ’’hard’’ because it is made of durable material like tarmac, unlike softer, unpaved shoulders on the other road. Meanwhile, because it is not a lane, it is illegal to drive on it, overtaking, or generally stopping, unless under the authority of the Agencies concerned.
The report paints a picture of a driver who attempted to do just like most of us do, including very important personalities as well as even the educated, by overtaking on the right. It is usually on the left side of the road in countries that drive on the right, and on the right side in countries where traffic drives on the left.
Nigeria drives on the right-hand side of the road, a change made from left-hand to right-hand driving on April 2, 1972, to align with neighboring West African countries. Uniquely, we drive on the right and have our hard shoulders on the right, while overtaking is only permitted on the left and not on the right, as the driver was alleged to have done.
Bad roads were not a factor in this crash. The stretch on which the crash occurred was motorable and stands as one of the best highways in Nigeria. It is a six-lane highway with three lanes on either side. It boasts of no potholes; rather the lanes are well demarcated and delineated.
And for the record, the 127.6-kilometre-long Lagos-Ibadan expressway connecting Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, and Lagos is regarded as the busiest interstate road in the country. It is one corridor where light, medium, and heavy-duty tow trucks are deployed to tow away cars parked on the hard shoulders for a long time in the spirit of the safe system approach, which I will deal with in the concluding part.
Now to the commentaries about the absence of an ambulance.
As former Sector Commander in Lagos, under Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, I can attest to the effort of the state in the areas of emergency management through the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, not just in Lagos but also on the Lagos-Ogun state axis.
Their fleet has increased over time, buoyed up by toll-free numbers for all emergencies;767, as well as the FRSCÂ Â Â 122 toll-free number. On the part of the Federal Road Safety Corps, we boast of over a hundred ambulances with varying numbers of dedicated emergency ambulance points known as Zebra points.
These zebra points are strategically located along major routes and identified black spots nationwide to ensure prompt response to road traffic crashes with toll-free number 122 for reporting crashes among other emergencies. Our ambulance fleet is also complemented by those of the National Emergency Management Agency as well as those from the States, such as Lagos.
Now, please permit me to buttress this by relaying an experience when a multiple crash occurred on Lagos-Ibadan on a certain Sunday night involving about 10 petroleum-laden trucks and about 18other vehicles. Three of the trucks went up in flames and burned all night.
The section of the crash was in Ogun State. Their fire engine struggled to put out the fire. We reached out to the Lagos State Governor who could authorize their firemen to join the operation. The Governor was contacted and informed that the victims could be Lagos residents and that we should embrace emergency response without borders.
He gave his consent and the Lagos fire service men moved to the crash site. Within 15minutes of their arrival, and with action, they were able to put out the fire. For those who may have missed a handicap in road traffic crash response, especially on a Federal Road such as Lagos-Ibadan, first responders from Lagos, in the spirit of our federal structure, cannot be unilaterally deployed by the Governor outside of their state’s jurisdiction.
This is because the Nigerian Federal system grants each level of government distinct powers and limits their authority to their respective territorial areas. Respond to an emergency on a Federal Road. Neither can a Lagos State Governor deploy emergency teams to a boundary outside his jurisdiction unless in concert with a collaborating Federal Agency which was what the Governor did when we sought his assistance.
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