Education

2 of 3 Kwara Poly students who died in auto crash planned Lagos trip  – Source

 

By Mike Adeyemi

Two of the three students of Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin who lost their lives to an accident at Oke-Ose, Ilorin on Thursday, had concluded arrangements to travel to Lagos  the following day, PILOT EDUCATION can report.
The victims were returning to their Oke-Ose residence after writing a 3: pm-6pm examination in the school.
According to one of the students of the institution, two of the victims; Rasheedat Adenike Agbomabini and Suliat Abiodun Yusuf, both females and ND II students of Mass Communication Department had planned to leave Ilorin for Lagos the following day.
The duo alongside a male ND I Public Administration student, were said to have entered a taxi allegedly belonging to an epileptic driver, at the school gate and they had barely moved a few metres away when the driver started acting strangely behind the wheels.
The students were said to have disembarked but were later persuaded by passers-by to continue the journey.
According to the source, it was in the course of the journey that the epileptic driver had a seizure and lost control before the vehicle was involved in head collision with an oncoming truck in the opposite direction.
All the occupants of the taxi including the driver died on the spot and the cab badly squeezed.
Speaking further, an eyewitness said residents of Oke-Ose had to use axe to cut through the cab in order to remove the remains of the victims.
Speaking on the incident, a management staff of Kwara State Polytechnic, who pleaded anonymity described the incident as unfortunate adding that the male victim lately returned from Lagos where he had gone to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Speaking further, the official said, “We got the news of the accident, the following day and the Director of Student Services (DSS) immediately provided the profile of the students through which we were able to trace their next of kin.
“The DSS worked in collaboration with security agents to contact the parents of the departed students and they all arrived all the way from Lagos. They were terrified and inconsolable.
“The school authority took full responsibility of providing ambulance that conveyed the corpse of the deceased from the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) morgue were their bodies were deposited to the Ilorin Muslim Commentary, where they were buried, last Friday,” he disclosed.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Kwara State Students (NAKSS) in a statement issued and jointly signed by Comr. Musa Mohammed Mancha and Comr. Salihu Ayatullahi at the weekend, described the incident as shocking.
“With great grief and deep heart, the Leadership of the National Association of Kwara State Students, National Headquarters, on behalf of the entire Kwara State students, commiserates with the management and students of the Kwara state polytechnic over the loss of three students to a ghastly motor accident, on Thursday, 15th of March, 2018.
… “While we mourn the loss of our colleagues, we pray to Almighty God to forgive them and grant them eternal rest.
“We also pray to God to grant the friends, families, Kwara State Polytechnic students and management, and the entire Kwara State students the fortitude to bear the loss.
“We equally appeal to all concern stakeholders to put every necessary apparatus in place to prevent future occurrence of such incident,” the statement read.
In a related development, the National Youth Service (NYSC), has said no corps member serving in Kwara died in the auto crash at Oke-Ose, Ilorin.
The NYSC Public Relations Officer in Kwara, Oladipo Morakinyo, refuted the allegation in a press statement issued yesterday.
He said,“ The attention of the NYSC state secretariat located in Ilorin, Kwara State has been drawn to a false information being circulated by online media about the death of a corps member in an auto crash.
“The management of the scheme in Kwara wishes to refute the false news and also set the records right that no corps member was involved or died in the said accident.”
He added that immediately the State Coordinator, Mr Amaefule Reminiscent got wind of the news on Thursday, he dispatched the Corps Welfare Officer and the Ilorin East Local Government Inspector to investigate the matter.
Morakinyo stated that the two officials visited the accident scene and the UITH morgue where the corpses of the victims were deposited.
The PRO said that the findings by the two officials ditto the Assistant Director, Corps Welfare and Health Services, who led a team of NYSC officials to the Oke-Ose Police Station, confirmed that none of the deceased was a corps member.

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