Barely 24 hours to his 50th birthday, Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam yesterday escaped death by the whiskers when his convoy was involved in a ghastly accident with two commercial vehicles.
Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Steven Lawani was also involved in the accident and also escaped unscathed.
The accident occurred at about 11 am at Angbaaye village, a border community between Makurdi and Guma local government areas of the state. Angbaaye is located on the busy Makurdi-Gboko road.
The governor was heading to Mbatierev in Gboko local government to commission a road project while his deputy was on the trip to commission a tree planting project at Wannune in Tarka local government. They were all on the same convoy.
No fewer than 15 persons including security aides, drivers on the convoy of the governor and passengers in the commercial vehicles were badly injured. Three jeeps on the convoy including the governor’s official car were damaged beyond repairs, just as two of the commercial vehicles were also completely destroyed.
According to witnesses, the Toyota wagon car that had a head-on collision with one of the vehicles on the governor’s convoy was coming from Gboko, heading in the direction of Makurdi, the state capital, when it encountered the convoy. It was gathered that the driver of vehicle was on high speed when the accident occurred.
The driver of the commercial vehicle, LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered, lost control and rammed into another vehicle that was parked off the shoulder of the road to pave way for the convoy before it collided with the governors official car.
Security aides and journalists attached to the governor who narrowly escaped death narrated that the security backup jeep of the governor somersaulted three times and landed into the bush.
The governor who assessed the level of damage and the severe injuries sustained by the victims immediately ordered that they should be evacuated to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi for urgent medical treatment.
Reacting on the incident, Suswam described the accident as fatal and thanked God for saving his life, that of his deputy and the entire aides on the convoy who survived the crash. He noted that the ugly incident does not in any way portend any political or traditional implication.
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