Couple, two children, nine others die in Bauchi auto crash

• School mourns death of five teachers in Ogun accident
• Taxi driver hit, speed off with LASTMA official hanging on car bonnet
Thirteen persons lost their lives while six others sustained life-threatening injuries in a road crash on Bauchi-Gombe highway. Sadly, a couple, two of their children and their younger brother lost their lives in the crash alongside eight others. According to the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Kamal Datti Abubakar, “the accident occurred on Sunday at about 2:30p.m. along Bauchi-Gombe road involving two vehicles, a Sharon bus loaded with 13 passengers and a Toyota Camry car loaded with six passengers.Kamal said the two vehicles had a head-on collision. “As a result, all the 19 passengers from the two vehicles and the two drivers were injured.”

The victims were immediately conveyed from the scene by security agents with assistance of some eyewitnesses to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) for treatment. “On reaching the hospital, 13 were confirmed dead by the medical doctor while six are still on admission.”Up till now, names and addresses of some of the victims are still unknown. The command calls on the members of the public who may be looking for their family members that might have traveled along that road and are still unable to reach them to check at the ATBU Teaching Hospital,” the police PRO said.

In a related incident, five employees of The Ambassadors Schools, Ota, Ogun State, Femi Ariyo Shofoluwe; Odunayo Emmanuel Aina; Oluwadamilola Kehinde Badejo; Samuel Olaitan; and Bolaji, recently died in an auto-crash at Lala village, in Ewekoro Local Government Area of the
state.

They were in their prime, had become shining lights in their chosen profession, imparting knowledge and shaping lives for a better Nigeria, when their lights suddenly went dim in a most gruesome manner. The incident of March 23, was a deadly blow to the entire school.The deceased, who were all staff of the secondary school section-three teachers and two non-teaching staff members, were returning from their colleague’s introduction in Ijebu-Ode, when their car suddenly bumped into a pothole and skidded-off the Itori bridge, along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

The way and manner at which the five persons died has brought endless tears to the checks of their loved ones, especially wives, kids, aged parents, friends and relatives, who sees their exit as too sudden.The Guardian learnt that Badejo, who will be 38 on June 20, left behind two kids – Pemisire and Bobo, aged four and two respectively. He had just bagged his Masters degree and currently running his Ph.D. It was also learnt that he won an award of excellence last year and was preparing for an official trip to Kenya for English competition.

For Aina, he died exactly 13 days to his 34th birthday, as he was born on April 5, 1985. Though not much could be gathered about Shofoluwe’s family, The Guardian learnt his aged parents have become inconsolable since they heard the sad news of their son’s death.Meanwhile, an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Seriki Adeyinka, has narrated how a taxi driver hit her and drove off on high speed while she hung on the bonnet of his car in Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

Adeyinka, who spoke to newsmen at the weekend, said the incident happened at about 6:35p.m. last Thursday. She said she was on the car’s bonnet from Igbogbo garage on Ikorodu road to Oluwanishola filling station on Baiyeku road.“I had resumed at my duty post at Igbogbo garage by 2:00p.m. with another colleague. Usually, anytime from 4:00p.m. traffic gets busy in the area. We were controlling the traffic when the taxi driver was coming and also picking passengers at the middle of the road, he caused a lot of traffic behind him. We told him to leave the middle of the road but he refused, I was trying to stop him to let him know that what he was doing on the road was bad, but while he sped off, he hit me with the car and I fell on the bonnet of the car.

“If I had not fallen on the bonnet, the car would have crushed me. When I fell on the bonnet, instead of him to wait, he moved on with a high speed. I struggled to hold something on the bonnet; he still drove on high speed and was swerving, trying to throw me down but I held on to something. While the car was moving people were trying to stop him but he was speeding and no one could stop him.

“Even when a trailer was coming, he tried to swerve me to the trailer maybe I would fall off from the bonnet, but as God would have it, I did not fall because I was holding the bonnet tightly. But thank God an eyewitness who was driving behind was later able to overtake him and he stopped at Oluwanishola filling station on Baiyeku road”.

Adeyinka said her hands were still paining her as she used it to hold the bonnet tightly. She said she is still in pains on her knee, which the vehicle hit, adding that her shoulder was dislocated. She said she is still under treatment.“It should not be when LASTMA officials are killed that it should be taken up. This taxi driver should pay for what he has done, it is total wickedness and to me he is like a murderer, he should get the consequences of what he has done,” she said.