No fewer than 18 people on Sunday narrowly escaped death when a commercial vehicle conveying All Progressives Congress supporters rammed into a crowd in Ringim Local Government Area of Jigawa State.
The victims were among residents who had gathered along the roadside in Yakasawa village, about 2km from Ringim town, to welcome Governor Umar Namadi for the 15th edition of the “Citizens and Government Engagement Programme.”
The programme, organised by the state government, is aimed at bringing the government closer to the people.
Eyewitnesses told PUNCH Online that the Golf Volkswagen, with registration number FKJ 102 JB, lost control and veered off the road before ploughing into the crowd.
An eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the vehicle lost control as it approached the large gathering of supporters.
“The driver was not in control of the vehicle, and it suddenly veered off the road and crashed into the people standing by the roadside,” the eyewitness said.
The eyewitness revealed that the victims had not been identified at the scene of the incident.
“We didn’t have time to identify them; our priority was to rush them to the hospital and get them the medical attention they needed,” the eyewitness added.
The eyewitness further explained that after the crash, residents quickly came to the aid of the victims, evacuating them from the car to a safer location by the roadside before a Federal Road Safety Corps vehicle arrived to take them to the hospital.
Another eyewitness, Saminu Shehu, speaking to PUNCH Online on Sunday said, “They were immediately rushed to Ringim General Hospital in an FRSC vehicle for medical attention.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Jigawa, ASC Badruddeen Tijjani, confirmed the incident, saying preliminary investigations showed the driver, who was speeding, tried to avoid a pothole before crashing.
“The vehicle was carrying passengers when it lost control and crashed, affecting 18 people in total,” he added.
He said no deaths were recorded, but the passengers and others involved sustained varying degrees of injuries.
“The victims were quickly evacuated to Ringim General Hospital for treatment by NSCDC personnel and the Federal Road Safety Corps,” he said.
Tijjani assured all that the command would conduct a thorough investigation into the incident to determine its cause and prevent similar accidents in the future.
The NSCDC spokesperson urged motorists to exercise caution on the roads, especially in areas with potholes, to avoid such accidents.
He also commended the prompt response of the NSCDC personnel on the ground and FRSC, which ensured that the victims received timely medical attention.
The incident comes less than four months after a similar crash in Birniwa LGA claimed the life of a former councillor during the fourth edition of the same programme.
Efforts to get comments from the state Commissioner for Information, Sagir Musa, were unsuccessful as calls to his phone went unanswered.
