WOMAN DIES AFTER CAR PLUNGES INTO LAGOS LAGOON FROM THIRD MAINLAND BRIDGE

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By: Sefiu Ajape

A 27-year-old woman, identified as Aisha Maikudi Ibrahim, has died after her car reportedly somersaulted and plunged into the Lagos Lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge.

Family sources said Mrs. Ibrahim, who lived in Gbagada, was returning from an event in Ikoyi, where she worked as a vendor, when the accident happened.

“She called her mother at about 1 a.m., assuring her she would be home in 20 minutes,” her aunt, Hadiza Oyewumi, told journalists in a telephone interview on Sunday.

“By 2 a.m., her line was unreachable. By 4 a.m., her mother grew anxious, and by 6 a.m., she and Aisha’s elder sister set out in search of her.”

Mrs. Oyewumi said the family encountered emergency officials and bystanders near the bridge.

“We stopped and were told there had been an accident. The car’s bumper was visible, and when they checked the number plate, it was hers,” she explained.

The family suspects the vehicle may have somersaulted due to speed, though the exact cause is yet to be determined.

What deepened their grief, however, was the conduct of the rescue agencies.

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“Officials from LASTMA and the marine police kept making calls but made no attempt to go into the water,” Mrs. Oyewumi said.

“Her father eventually negotiated with local divers, who demanded N400,000 before they agreed to dive. Only after payment was her body recovered.”

Her remains were pulled from the lagoon between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, nearly 12 hours after the crash, and immediately buried according to Islamic rites.

In a statement on Sunday, Mrs. Oyewumi described her niece as “a bright and ambitious entrepreneur” but decried what she termed the “commercialization of human lives” in the failed rescue efforts.

“The tragedy of her death is painful enough, but the greater pain lies in the response that followed,” the statement read.

“Despite the presence of LASTMA and the marine police, no meaningful rescue was carried out. Local fishermen, instead, demanded money before acting. In our grief, the family paid, not as a bargain, but simply to retrieve her for burial.”

She urged the Lagos State Government to enhance emergency response capacity by providing officials with adequate tools and formally integrating trained divers into the system.

“Structures must be put in place to ensure that human lives are never weighed against money in critical moments,” she said.

“Lagos cannot afford to commercialize life. Preparedness and compassion must define our response to emergencies.”