4 students, one lady killed in Niger governor’s convoy road crash

By Clare Nnabuike, Minna Five person, four male students and a young lady have died in a fatal accident involving the Niger state governor Mohammed Umaru Bago’s convoy in Minna, the state capital. The incident happened on Monday at Gidan Mangoro community along the Minna–Bida Road. It followed a head-on collision between a high speeding Hilux van in the convoy of Bago, and a private Peugeot 206 car.

The lady identified as Mrs Nafisa was driving the car and died at the spot of the accident. She was said to be a staff of an NGO, and Programme Manager at Labspace, and the Founder of Wosh Mart Service Ltd. A resident of Gidan Mangoro, Abdullahi Musa, told Vanguard that the accident occurred at about 11:35am when the governor was returning from Bida.

He and his team paid a condolence visit on the Etsu Nupe and chairman of the Niger state council of traditional rulers Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar over the passage of the Sagi Nupe Hajia Aisha. He said the occupants of the private car driven by Nafisa were suspected to be postgraduate students of the Federal University of Technology, Minna. His words, “The people in the private car died instantly, while those in the government Hilux sustained serious injuries with the driver dying on the spot.

Nafisa “The accident was caused by wrongful overtaking by the Hilux in the governor’s convoy. The other car was in its lane when the Hilux rammed into it.” A member of staff of Minna General Hospital, where the victims were rushed to told Vanguard that three people died on the spot while two other people died due to high level of injuries sustain from the crash.

“Some of the injured victims were subsequently referred to IBB Specialist Hospital for advanced medical care,” he said. Vanguard gathered that one of the occupants of the Hilux van was a former Niger state local government council chairman who sustained fractures to his legs but was still alive at the time of this report. The Niger State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC Aishat Sa’adu, confirmed the road crash but said that by the time her officers arrived at the scene, the victims had already been evacuated to the hospital.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Niger state command Superintendent of Police Wasiu Abiodun confirmed the incident and said the accident was under investigation. He did not however give the names or numbers of the deceased. “The accident occured this morning and we are investigating it,” Abiodun said.