Barely 24 hours to his 50th birthday, the governor of Benue state, Gabriel Suswam narrowly escaped death on the Makurdi-Gboko highway when his convoy was involved in a ghastly accident with two commercial vehicles. His deputy, Chief Steven Lawani was also involved in the accident and also escaped unscathed.
According to Leadership report, the incident occurred at yesterday, November 14, about 11 a.m. at Angbaaye village, a border community between Makurdi and Guma local government areas of the state. 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.
It was gathered that the driver of a Toyota station wagon car, which was conveying passengers to Makurdi, was on top speed and wanted to overtake some vehicles but on realizing that it was too late to slow down, rammed into the governor’s convoy coming in the opposite direction. The accident was said to have left no fewer than 15 persons including security aides, drivers on the convoy of the governor and passengers in the commercial vehicles with injuries.
Three jeeps on the convoy including the governor’s official car were badly damaged, just as two of the commercial vehicles were also completely destroyed. 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.
In his reaction, Gov Suswam, who described the accident as fatal and thanked God for saving his life, that of his deputy and the entire aides on the convoy. He also ordered that all those who sustained severe injuries be immediately evacuated to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi for urgent medical treatment.
