At least one person died and four other passengers were seriously injured in an auto accident that happened Saturday evening at Moniya, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The accident occurred when some officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) gave a commercial Micra car a hot chase until the car together with that of FRSC plunged into a ditch, resulting in the death of the driver of the commercial car, Akeem Ibrahim and leaving four passengers critically injured.
According to an eyewitness, the driver of the commercial car had refused to stop at a checkpoint manned by the FRSC officials around Ojoo. The driver’s refusal to stop made the FRSC official to embark on a hot pursuit of the Micra car, with number plate Lagos 831 DH, and their van marked 1139(3).
“We saw how the FRSC officials were pursuing the unpainted commercial car.
“The officials were trying to overtake the car and in the process both of them plunged into this wide hole by the roadside.”
A source said the officials of the FRSC were chasing the car for not being painted in the normal commercial colour.
“The FRSC were chasing the car because it was not painted in the normal commercial colour. The passengers in the car were shouting and pleading with the officials not to risk their lives, but they did not heed their pleas.
“Like a movie, we just saw and heard a deafening noise when they crashed. The Micra car somersaulted before it crashed into the ditch, followed by the FRSC van. The driver of the Micra car had stopped breathing by the time they carried him out. The four passengers in the car were critically injured when they pulled them out. Blood covered them all over.”
Speaking further, the eye witness said when the FRSC rescue team got to the scene of the accident, they evacuated their van without attending to the Micra car.
Meanwhile, angry drivers mobilised themselves and would have attacked the FRSC official present but for the prompt intervention of five police vans who checked the irate drivers and nipped the attack in the bud.
