2nd Teen Suffers Tragic Loss

Updated at 12:10 p.m. (Thursday, July 5)

Two women, one from the United States and one from Nigeria, are still mourning the loss of their respective children.

Doyin Abiola’s son, David Obayemi Olokun, was among 23 people killed last October when a truck rammed into a pedestrian bridge at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway toll gates.

Ms. Obayemi remembers being in the crowd, some of whom heard a gunshot before the vehicle hit her.

“I was with the crowd when the shots were fired,” she recalls. “But I was just so confused. The shooting came and it was terror. I saw lots of people hurt and a truck rammed into them, and I didn’t know who to run to because there was no one there I knew.”

Her young son was pronounced dead at the scene. Ms. Obayemi says her son went to the toll gate to pay for a transfer he was about to embark on — Lagos is one of the most expensive cities in the world. He came home in November to begin classes for the new school year.

Ms. Obayemi says she would have welcomed her son back to school with open arms and a cold drink had he not died on her watch.

“I was crying and screaming, ‘He died in my arms. He will not come back. Who’s going to deal with this?’ I will never forgive myself. I will never forgive anyone for this.”

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