The incident was said to have happened around 5pm on Sunday when the woman was returning home from a Cherubim and Seraphim church in Ijaiye, Lagos State.
PUNCH Metrolearnt that the mother of six was at the roadside in Ijaiye when the driver of the bus, Tajudeen Ojelabi, knocked her down. It was gathered that the bus had lost control owing to a brake failure.
Our correspondent learnt that the woman was rejected at six different hospitals before she was admitted at the National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, where she spent 16 days before giving up the ghost on November 11, 2014.
While lamenting his wife’s death, Mr. Isiah Owodunni, a pastor ─ who lives on Oluwalogbon Street, Oke-Odo area of the state ─ described her as a faithful and supportive woman.
He said, “She was my source of happiness.
We built this church together more than 20 years ago. She used to go to the church’s headquarters in Ijaiye on Wednesdays and Sundays.
“It was painful we lost her despite our efforts. We spent about N600,000 at the hospital.
At a point, our first child had to use his Higher National Diploma Certificate as collateral to raise N150,000 to pay some of her hospital bills.”
PUNCH Metro learnt that Ojelabi was later arrested by the police at the Meiran Police Station and arraigned before an Ojokoro Magistrate’s Court on three counts of reckless driving and non-possession of driving licence.
The prosecutor, Inspector Idowu Oneme, said the offences were contrary to and punishable under sections 18, 19 and Shedule II, No 1 of the Road Traffic Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2012.
The charges read in part, “That you, Tajudeen Ojelabi, on October 26, 2014, at about 4.50pm, at Ijaiye bus stop, along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, in the Lagos Magisterial District, being the driver in charge of a Volswagen Vanagon bus with registration number XF 269 KTU, drove on the public highway in a dangerous manner, having no regards for other road users.
“That you, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, being the driver in charge of the above mentioned vehicle, drove same on the public highway and caused the death of one Funmilayo Owodunni of Oluwalogbon Street, Ile-Epo, Oke-Odo, Lagos.”
After the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges, the presiding magistrate, Mrs. T. Akani, admitted him to bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The case was adjourned till January 27, 2015.
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