It was a sad day for the entire members of the Action Congress of Nigeria and the entire people of Edo State over the road accident involving the Governor’s convoy and a tipper truck along Afuze-Auchi road in Edo North senatorial district of the State. The Comrade Governor had gone to receive decampees from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party into the Action Congress of Nigeria at a ceremony in Afuze, headquarters of the Owan East Local Government of the State. After the ceremony where over 4,000 PDP members decamped to the ACN, the Comrade Governor was headed for Auchi enroute Benin where the Edo South Senatorial campaign was scheduled to take place at 3pm.
A statement by Prince Kassim Afegbua , director, media and publicity , Oshiomhole Campaign Organisation revealed that on their way to Auchi from Afuze, a tipper truck emerged from the opposite direction and rammed into the flag vehicle of the Comrade Governor before crashing into several other vehicles in the convoy leaving three people dead and several others in critical condition. The Comrade Governor’s back-up vehicle was badly affected as well as three other vehicles conveying security officers and members of the Governor’s Press Crew; the Comrade Governor’s vehicle escaped by the whiskers.
Those who received several degrees of injuries are already receiving medical attention in various hospitals around Auchi and Irrua respectively. The Governor is also recovering fast from the shock of the incident as it could have been worse if the tipper truck driver had succeeded in his dastardly mission. At first, the driver of the tipper truck attempted to escape but was quickly apprehended by sympathizers.
The Governor had ordered full scale investigation to ascertain the immediate and remote cause of this unfortunate incident which had claimed the lives of three young, brilliant and very hardworking Journalists at this moment of the take-off of the Governor’s re-election campaigns.
The campaign statement said “We have every reason to suspect foul play in this incident and we expect the Police authority to unravel the circumstances that led to this avoidable but unfortunate incident. Our suspicion is further buoyed by the fact that there have been series of threats and boastful statements from the opposition camp, expressing very crude desperation about the July 14, 2012 gubernatorial election in the State as do or die affair.
Also, The Oshiomhole Campaign Organization expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the line of duty. “May the spirit of the Almighty God continue to abide with their families and may God grant them peaceful rest in the hereafter.As a mark of honour, the flag-off earlier scheduled for the day had been put off until further notice,” the statement said.
