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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012
F
OR Olayinka Efunnuga, life has been nothing better than hell since a truck belonging to the Nigerian Bottling Company, makers of Coca-Cola, ran into his Peugeot 405 car in April last year and left him with a fractured leg. All that seems to matter to the taxi driver since then has been the miracle that would make him to walk again. The 59-year-old indigene of Ogun State was said to be returning home after the day’s job when the incident occurred at Governor’s Road junction, Ikotun, Lagos State. A Coca-Cola truck was said to have run into his car, damaging it beyond repairs and breaking his leg in the process. Efunnuga cut the picture of a man in urgent need of help when our correspondent visited his residence at 39, Bamshack Street, Ikotun during the week. He reclined on a seat in his poorly furnished apartment, looking dejected. He recalled the circumstances that culminated in his predicament, adding that his condition was getting worse because of his inability to raise fund for medical treatment. He said: “The incident actually occurred at about 11.15 pm on April 28, 2011 while I was returning home from work. It was my habit to wait until it was dark before returning home after closing for the day to avoid being caught in traffic jam. “On this particular day, I had dropped a passenger on Victoria Island and waited until it was late before leaving for home. I had just bought a lot of suya (roast meat) with the intention of eating it when I got home. Unfortunately, a few metres to my home, just at the Governor’s Road junction, a CocaCola truck emerged from a corner of the road and rammed into my Peugeot 405 car. I lost my right leg while I also sustained injury in the chest. “A kind-hearted passer-by took me to a nearby private hospital, but after some days, doctors at the hospital said my case was beyond what they could handle and I was discharged. I was transferred to Igando General Hospital, but after several delays, I was again taken to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, where doctors refused to attend to me for of lack of money.” Efunnuga explained the nightmare his life had witnessed over his inability to raise money for treatment to restore his damaged leg and chest. He said: “My car was condemned and I don’t have any source to raise money for my treatment, which doctors have said would require total surgery. I have been going from one hospital to another, including Railway Hospital. I have even resorted to patronising traditional bone healers, all to no avail. “At a point when I could not afford to feed and buy drugs to suppress excruciating pains, I sold my parcel of land in Ikenne for a paltry sum and I am now left with nothing to live on. “I bought the damaged car for N 650,000 and lost it in an autoaccident involving a company without any compensation. More than one year after the incident, I am finding it extremely difficult to cope with life, especially my domestic responsibilities. I cannot walk and I live with pains every day because my leg is badly damaged.” Our correspondent gathered that several letters were written by the
I’m desperate to walk again, says 59-yr-old taxi driver hit by Coca-Cola truck
•Efunnuga’s badly damaged cab after the accident
•Efunnuga in bandage after the accident •Efunnuga showing his fractured leg
Kunle AKINRINADE taxi driver to the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), asking for compensation, but the talks were deadlocked. The breakdown of communication between Efunnuga and officials of the bottling giant, according to him,
was because of the paltry amount the company had offered to pay. He said: “After we had written to the company on a number of occasions, their lawyer asked us for the cost of my medical treatment and it was agreed that I would get N1.5 million. They asked us to come back for the money only for the company to shut its doors on me. The company
•Efunnuga before the accident
even “cajoled” my son to come and pick the sum of N250,000 on my behalf, but as I speak, nothing has been paid. “The company is clinging to a suit filed against its errant driver by the police for reckless driving as an excuse to abandon me to my fate. I am, therefore, appealing to people to assist me so that I can stand on my feet again. I cannot
the damaged car for N 650,000 and lost it ‘ inI bought an auto-accident involving a company without any compensation. More than one year after the incident, I am finding it extremely difficult to cope with life, especially my domestic responsibilities. I cannot walk and I live with pains every day because my leg is badly damaged
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continue to depend on handouts from my son because he is a young man and has his own family to take care of.” In its response, the Public Affairs Manager, Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd, Mr. Adeyanju Olomola, confirmed the incident, saying: “The Nigerian Bottling Company confirms that Mr. Efunnuga Olayinka was injured in an accident which involved our vehicle along Ikotun-Egbdeda Road in April 2011. “Attempts were made to resolve the issue, but these were not successful, following which legal proceedings were instituted against the driver in court, and it is currently ongoing. “Regrettably, given that the case is currently in court, we are constrained by the law to respond to your request to comment on this issue at this moment,” he added.