From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
One of the vehicles on the convoy of the Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, was reportedly involved in an accident killing one man and injuring another.
Our correspondent gathered that the accident happened at Ihugh in Vandeikya Local Government Area (LGA) of the state on Sunday.
It was said that the Governor, who hails from Vandeikya LGA had gone to his country home to celebrate Christmas with his kinsmen when the accident occured.
A source who didn’t want to be named told newsmen that the accident happened along the dusty road in Ihugh area when the driver of the vehicle lost sight of the way due to dust.
The source said, “The governor was going to the Church and his vehicle was in the front followed by other vehicles and one of the vehicles on the convoy veered off the road because he couldn’t see clearly due to dust on the untarred road and rammed into a motorcycle.
He said one person died and others sustained injuries.
When contacted, the Technical Adviser to the governor on Media, Publicity and Strategic Communication, Solomon Iorpev said that the accident happened about 30 minutes after the Governor had gone to the church.
He admitted that the vehicle that was involved in the accident was one of the vehicles in governor’s convoy, but explained that the vehicle was not on the convoy when the accident happened.
Iorpev said,”The vehicle was alone on a mission when it got involved in an accident and this was caused by dust.
“The road is very dusty and there was an on coming vehicle at the opposite direction and while the vehicle tried to avoid the on coming vehicle it rammed into a motorcycle which caused the accident.
“The Governor’s convoy did not have an accident and it was not his pilot vehicle. It was one of the vehicles on his convoy. The Governor was already away for 30 minutes before that guy left. He went on another mission. He was on his way back to go and meet the Governor where he was before the accident happened”.
At the time of filing this report, Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Catherine Anene, said the case was yet-to- be reported to the command.