Posted by By Chidi Nkwopara on
OWERRI - NO fewer than 12 persons including a serving police sergeant and two constables have been reported dead in two separate ghastly automobile accidents in Oru West local government area of Imo State.
OWERRI - NO fewer than 12 persons including a serving police sergeant and two constables have been reported dead in two separate ghastly automobile accidents in Oru West local government area of Imo State. In one of the accidents, a trailer lorry crashed into an ALGON Jeep, belonging to Oru West Divisional Police Station killing three policemen and badly injuring two others.
Similarly, an aide of the Oguta local government Chairman, Gerald Irona, an engineer, ran into a crowd of sympathizers at a funeral ceremony and immediately killed nine persons. Speaking to newsmen on the incident involving his aide, the Oguta council boss explained that the local government bus was smuggled out of his residence by his steward and a staff of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)." The duo in the dead of the night, quietly pushed the 14-seater NISSAN vehicle out of the parking lot in my residence and later came back to steal the keys before driving away", Irona said.
He denied being privy to the aide's mission on that fateful day. Irona said he was shocked to hear later that the duo ran into a group of sympathizers at a funeral ceremony and lamented that the aggrieved people at the scene promptly burnt the bus.
Giving a graphic account of what happened in the two accidents, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Chike Nwabuwa, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), said the policemen in the ALGON Jeep were on their way to Eziorsu community on official duty when they met their untimely death.
According to the PPRO, the accident occurred at Awo Omamma, stressing that it was raining heavily and visibility was badly reduced. He recalled that "the policemen were on their way to Eziorsu for an investigation, adding that the sergeant who was driving at the material time and the two constables, died instantly while the other two were rushed to the hospital for medical attention".
The PPRO also confirmed the death of nine persons who were at a Christian wake keep at Umuehi, Mgbidi, when the local government bus ran into the crowd, killing them instantly. Nwabuwa gave the name of the driver as Anthony Jackson, others are EliasAjaene, Augustine Onwugbuenu, Chigozie Dike, Celestine Adikibe, Edwin Udeozo, Longinus Akubuo, Okechukwu Agukwelozi and Obioma Madueke, adding that the accident happened at about 2.30 a.m, at Umuehi, Mgbidi.