Christmas Day auto-accidents in Nigeria: 3 Killed, 11 Injured 3 Killed, 11 Injured

Three persons were confirmed dead and 11 injured in separate road accidents on Christmas Day across the country.

A statement by the Federal Road Safety Commission said a Toyota Hiace car with registration number XA 651 NKR and belonging to Onitsha Mass Transit, crashed into a motorcycle with registration number BND 601 QC on Mile 2/Afikpo.

Two persons were seriously injured and have been taken to the hospital.

Also, at Gada Biyu on Abaji-Gwagwalada Road near Abuja, two persons died and three others were injured when a DAF truck with reg no XA 961 MLF crushed a motorcycle.

The victims were taken to the General Hospital, Kwali while the road has been cleared of obstruction.

One person also died and six others were injured at Chikara, around Abaji when a Toyota Sienna car with registration number YAB 91 AL had a burst tyre.

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Meanwhile, FRSC said in a statement by its Corps Education Officer, Jonas Agwu, said it recorded 94 deaths in 191 road accidents across the country in the last five days. The statement said the figures were given by the Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Mr. Osita Chidoka, after an aerial patrol on Tuesday. The commission identified over-speeding as one of the major causes of the crashes. Chidoka expressed serious concern over the development, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

He said, “It is an attitudinal issue as this year witnessed rehabilitation of major corridors of the highways. “People tend to disregard traffic laws on speed limits and accelerate beyond recommended speed. “This has resulted in the figures we have witnessed in the last five days. “However, we have devised measures to address this unpleasant development.” The statement noted that the Federal Ministry of Works and the Federal Road Maintenance Agency had rehabilitated many roads.

 It noted that the rehabilitation was carried out after the report of an audit conducted by the FRSC was submitted. The aerial patrol took the team, led by Chidoka, to the Abuja-Lokoja, Lokoja-Okene, Asaba-Onitsha highways and the 9th Mile Corner in Enugu State, among others.

“The purpose of the surveillance is to identify areas of gridlock and resolve them to ease traffic flow,” the statement added.

Six Killed at Christmas Church Service in Yobe

Gunmen attacked a church in northern Nigeria during a midnight mass on Christmas Eve, killing six people including the pastor, before setting the building ablaze, residents and police said Tuesday.

"A group of gunmen came into the village at midnight and went straight to the church," said Usman Mansir, a resident of Peri village near Potiskum, the economic capital of Yobe state.

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"They opened fire on them, killing the pastor and five worshippers. They then set fire to the church," he added, specifying that a branch of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) was targetted.

A senior police official in Yobe confirmed the details, but declined to be named. Yobe police chief Sanusi Rufa’i said "this is a security issue" and refused to comment further. Boko Haram Islamists have carried out several attacks in Yobe, which borders the state of Maiduguri, where the insurgent group is based. The Islamists are blamed for killing hundreds of people in northern Nigeria since 2009.

It was not clear who was behind the latest violence. While Yobe’s population is overwhelmingly Muslim, the commercial hub of Potiskum has a significant Christian minority. Peri is just two kilometres outside the city.

World's tallest teen girl at 6ft 8inchs, dating boyfriend, who is just 5ft 4inch

The world's tallest teenage girl walks hands in hands with her boyfriend, the picture of young love despite a staggering 1ft 6in height difference.
Elisany da Cruz Silva, 17, measures an unbelievable 6ft 8in tall and has to bend down to plant a kiss on her 5ft 4in lover Francinaldo da Silva Carvalho, 22.

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The youngster, from Salinopolis in Brazil, has a form of gigantism because of a tumour on her pituitary gland, which regulates growth. Doctors have since removed the tumour.

Xmas tragedy: LASTMA men beat a bus driver to death.

A commercial bus driver, Isaac Popoola, on Monday died after being allegedly assaulted by two officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority in the Oshodi area of the state.

The bus conductor, Aremu Salawu, who witnessed the incident, said the LASTMA officials, Adesanya Olatunde and Oludele Ogunrinde, assaulted Popoola at about 6.30am around Brown Bus Stop resulting in his death.

He said the deceased’s bus with number plate, XL166SNK, conveying 17 passengers from Igando/Isheri was approaching Brown Junction when a LASTMA pick-up van crossed the bus.

The leader of the LASTMA officials, according to Salawu, ordered two of his men to impound the vehicle and take it to the agency’s office.

Salawu, who narrated the incident to one of our correspondents on the premises of the police Area F Command, alleged that Olatunde hit Salawu’s head against the steering and the door frame of the bus many times before he died.

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He said Popoola, 54, was tussling for the steering with the LASTMA official, who resorted to using the metallic head of the seat belt to hit the driver’s head in an attempt to forcibly take over the bus. Salawu said, “Baba (Popoola) held on to the steering asking what his offence was.

 But the LASTMA man (Olatunde) said it was his commander that ordered him to seize the bus. “When Baba refused to leave the steering, the LASTMA man started hitting Popoola’s head against the steering and the door frame. He did this so many times, until he was unable to talk again. “I then rushed to Mosafejo Police Station where I made a statement and people who were watching the scenario were able to apprehend one of the LASTMA men (Olatunde).

They brought him to the police station before we were transferred to to Area F. “They did not tell him (driver) what his offence was because no passenger alighted from our bus at a wrong point and he used his seat belt.” As at 4pm when one of our correspondents left the Area F Command, Salawu’s body was still lying in the bus. It was observed that there were no bruises on the head of the deceased.

The 50-year-old wife of the deceased, Modupe, and his son, Ibukunoluwa, a graduate of Accounting from the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State, along with other sympathisers were also on the premises of the command Ibukunoluwa, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said he had just graduated and awaiting his call-up for the B Batch of the National Youth Service Corps in February 2013. He said his father left their house at 16, Ojo Ogundana Crescent, Off Jimoh Akinremi, Jimoh Bus Stop, Akowonjo, early in the morning of Monday. “I can’t believe I don’t have a father again. My father left home very early this morning, only for us to be informed by his mechanic few hours later that he had died,” Ibukunoluwa said.

The management of LASTMA has however dissociated itself from the incident. A statement signed by the General Manager of the agency, Babatunde Edu, stated the errant officials acted contrary to the agency’s operational guidelines. Edu said Olatunde was identified by the agency’s Provost Marshall and handed over to the police while Ogunrinde who was reported to be off duty as at the time of the incident was still at large. He stated that the officials were in the area to carry out illegal operation.

 “The arrested suspect (Olatunde) has been handed over to Mosafejo Police Station and eventually transferred to Akinpelu Police Station for further investigation; while effort is on to arrest other suspect (Ogunrinde),” Edu said.

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