The rate of road accidents in Nigeria involving convoys of top government officials, which have claimed scores of lives, apart from becoming embarrassing, has worsened the country’s unenviable record as the second highest road traffic accident fatalities in the world. At 162 deaths per 100,000kms, according to recent statistics by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria is among the countries with highest road accidents. But worrisome as the case may be, and the public outcry over the excesses of those who ordinarily should be role models to other road users, there has not been any remarkable change in the ways these officials and their lieutenants drive on the nation’s roads. From officials of local governments to states and those of the Federal Government, the stories are similar. A recent survey on the issue showed that no fewer than 26 lives were lost in the past three years to this menace with the convoys of state governors more culpable. The latest involve governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada on December 28, 2012. While he was lucky to escape the crash along the Lokoja – Ajaokuta road with a fracture, his Aide-de-Camp (ADC), Idris Mohammed, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) was not. He died on the spot. Wada was returning from an official assignment at Ayingba and he was said to be billed for another event at Lokoja that same day; a reception in honour of the immediate past governor of the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris. It was claimed that the accident might have occurred because his convoy tried to make sure he met up with the engagements. The state was again thrown into mourning when four days later, the Speaker of its House of Assembly, Momoh Lawal, got involved in another ghastly crash that left a police corporal, Lamidi Akeem, attached to his convoy, dead. A near similar incident occurred in Imo State few days before the New Year when the convoys of Governor Rochas Okorocha and that of Senator Chris Anyanwu, representing Imo East in the National Assembly rammed into each other. Though no life was lost this time, aides of the two personalities engaged themselves in a fight which led to the manhandling of the senator’s driver and assistants by the governor’s security aides. The same reckless driving was the cause of the January 18 and 20 crashes of the convoys of Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State and the Niger State deputy governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, respectively. Dankwambo’s convoy crash occurred on the Gombe-Yola road when the driver of a pickup van lost control at a sharp bend and hit a police vehicle in the motorcade returning from a constituency tour in Shongom Local Government Area about 9.15pm. The collision claimed one life while six others sustained various degrees of injury. That of Ibeto, which killed two on a motocycle, happened when the deputy governor was on his way to Kalgara area of the state for the final ceremony of the state’s Qur’anic competition. His convoy rammed into the motorcyclist who was said to be on the opposite direction. The use of convoys by the elite, particularly government officials, is not new in Nigeria though it became rampant during the military era. However, it has grown out of proportion under the present democratic dispensation. This is despite the fact that the categories of people authorised to use siren include the President, Vice President, Senate President, Speakers, their deputies, state governors, service chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, General Officers Commanding (GOCs), Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs), Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs), as well as Commissioners of Police. And because this flagrant abuse has continued unchallenged, others like First Ladies, traditional rulers, clergies, chief executives of corporate bodies and even rich private individuals are now toeing this line of ignoble act. It is common knowledge that several hours before a top government official is chauffeured through, roads are closed to traffic thereby causing pandemonium and traffic logjam, as motorists and passers-by are compelled to struggle to get out of such scenes or areas as quickly as possible for fear of being trapped. Also, the sycophantic aides to these VIPs, in the overzealous bid to show loyalty to their respective principals at the same time engage in reckless harassment of other road users, as typified by the humiliation of a Lagos resident, Mrs. Elizabeth Udoudo, by the convoy of the immediate past governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, in Lagos, not long ago. Read more nationalmirroronline.net/new/governors-convoy-drivers-as-agents-of-death/ en.starafrica/news/nigerias-imo-state-governor-involved-in-road-crash.html nairaland/1144728/governor-idris-wada-involved-car/ lindaikeji.blogspot/2010/03/ghastly-crash-governor-liyel-imoke.html?m=1 thestreetjournal.org/2012/04/oshiomole-escapes-death-as-3-journalists-die-in-ghastly-accident/
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 19:47:20 +0000
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