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Eight days ago, a man left his home to visit his cousin. He had something to send to his aged mother in the village and his cousin was to travel there. It was about 8pm. The cousin wasn’t living too far from where he lived. It would cost #70 by ‘keke’. His family bid him “go-come” and awaited his return.
It was getting late. He hadn’t returned. 9pm, he was not back. 10pm, he was still not back. The wife became uneasy. She started calling him. He did not pick his phone call. She called again and again, there was no response. Of course the children had gone to sleep. At about 11p.m, she concluded that he probably decided to pass the night in his cousin’s house, probably he finished late from there and could not get ‘keke’ back to the house. Though worried, she tried to stay calm. She kept awake and continued calling him but got no response.
At about 1.00 am, a call came in from the husband’s phone number and the following conversation ensued:
Caller: madam goo morning o
Woman: abeg who be this?
Caller: I be police o, the person wey get this number don get accident o
Woman: (screamed) subhanalah! Which hospital e dey abeg, na my husband (in teary voice)
Caller: hmm, e no dey hospital o, e don die. Na d dead body dey with us as I dey follow u talk now. Make we bring am come house abi make we carry am go mortuary
Woman: (broke down in tears and cried inconsolably)
Caller: madam, madam………………
Her husband had boarded a ‘keke’ on his way back home. The ‘keke’ stopped to drop off a passenger. A Dangote trailer (an 18-wheeler) ran into a ditch created by road construction workers, on the opposite carriage of the road. The trailer driver lost control, crossed the “road divider” and ran over the ‘keke’ killing all its occupants. Imagine a crash involving an 18-wheeler and a ‘keke napep’!
Well, the corpse of the man was eventually brought to his house by the police, in a police van. The blood of the man was still dripping from the police van as it was received by the family and put in his dinning room, awaiting burial by morning. His 8th day remembrance prayer is due today.
THE ABOVE ACCIDENT HAPPENED ALONG GANAJA ROAD IN LOKOJA, KOGI STATE.
I am still in shock because this man was my neighbor next door. Same compound, same block of building.
A lot of questions have sprung up in my mind.
The repair of ganaja road started over 8 months ago and it is still ongoing! The poverty-stricken company(ies) to who this contract was awarded have remained on the job as though the road is to link heaven (or hell) and Lokoja. The entire stretch of the road under repair is less than 3km. as I type this message, work is till ongoing on the road.
Now, it is important to state that the ditch which caused that accident was on a supposedly completed aspect of the road. It was “completed” less than 3 weeks prior to this incident. A wide hollow or depression had formed there. The company workers had marked it out and excavated it, probably intending to “patch it back”. A new road o. Lol. They excavated this portion of the road, without any warning sign ahead of or behind the excavated point.
Secondly, after the accident occurred, the news resonated round the whole town. It was aired on radio and TV. It was a burning issue at newspaper stands, okada gatherings, mai suya joint etc. Along that road is the Kogi State Commissioners’ Quarters. Along that road is the Kogi State House of Assembly quarters. You MUST drive past the scene to get to any of the aforementioned places but, guess what? NOT A WORD OR ACTION from any of these people. They would drive past in their AC tight cozy rides and “face front” or “press phone”. e no consayin dem na…you know, the deceased is not their brother, or sister, or uncle, or aunt, or thug, or political associate, or party member, or father, or mother, Na person like me and you na, so why the heck should they be bothered? na so God want am. abi? ?
Everyone has since moved on except the wife and children of my neighbor (and the relatives of all the other victims) whose destinies were just rudely, suddenly and unapologetically redefined (or shattered) by a 15th century road construction company, a pin-headed dangote truck driver and a government that is “people oriented”!. What a life. What a fate!
Well, I’d like to remind whoever cares to listen, that, even though we cannot question you or hold you to account, we deserve a better life. We deserve better attention from ALL OF YOU, the government especially. We deserve to be protected. We deserve to be defended. We deserve to be heard.
The man you all have caused his death was a diligent young man. A very dedicated civil servant. A tax payer. Law-abiding. Respectable. Loving and caring. A husband of one wife and father of four children. The education of those children has been suddenly truncated. Do you know why? they are back in the village because their mother is unemployed and they all depended on daddy for everything, I mean EVERYTHING except oxygen! You all see your handiwork abi? Shey you see.
Just in case you still have some humanity left in you, whoever is responsible, PLEASE, FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR OWN WIFE OR WIVES & CHILDREN
>ORDER THE IMMEDIATE COMPLETION OF THESE ROAD. PLEASE! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
>ORDER THE RE-DIRECTION OF ALL HEAVY DUTY VEHICLES FROM TOWNSHIP ROADS especially during the day and early hours of the night.
>TOLL ALTERNATIVE ROUTES FOR THESE TRUCKS AND USE THE PROCEEDS TO MAINTAIN THE ROADS.
>REDEPLOY YOUR “KOTRAMA”, “KOGROMA” or “KO-whatever-MA” to enforce the above. They should stop harrasing innocent, tax-paying, law-abiding civil servants for broken side mirrors, incomplete vehicle papers, half filled fire-extinguishers etc etc. They are a COMPLETE nuisance. The FRSC can handle their current assignments and do it far BETTER! Stop sacrificing innocent lives for nothing! STOP IT!
Three other persons, law abiding citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, also died in that accident. Their families must still be grieving. May God rest their souls.
If you know those who should act, please, help us tell them.
God bless Kogi State!
God bless Nigeria!
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