Suswam Escapes Death On Eve Of 50th Birthday

Barely 24 hours to his 50th birthday, Benue State Governor Gabriel
Suswam yesterday escaped death by the whiskers when his convoy was
involved in a ghastly accident with two commercial vehicles.
Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Steven Lawani was also involved in
the accident and also escaped unscathed.
The accident occurred at about 11 am at Angbaaye village, a border
community between Makurdi and Guma local government areas of the
state. Angbaaye is located on the busy Makurdi-Gboko road.
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. They were all on the same convoy.
Our source reports that no fewer than 15 persons including security
aides, drivers on the convoy of the governor and passengers in the
commercial vehicles were badly injured. Three jeeps on the convoy
including the governor's official car were damaged beyond repairs,
just as two of the commercial vehicles were also completely destroyed.
According to witnesses, the Toyota wagon car that had a head-on
collision with one of the vehicles on the governor's convoy was coming
from Gboko, heading in the direction of Makurdi, the state capital,
when it encountered the convoy. It was gathered that the driver of
vehicle was on high speed when the accident occurred.
The driver of the commercial vehicle, our source gathered, lost
control and rammed into another vehicle that was parked off the
shoulder of the road to pave way for the convoy before it collided
with the governors official car.
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.
The governor who assessed the level of damage and the severe injuries
sustained by the victims immediately ordered that they should be
evacuated to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi for
urgent medical treatment.
Reacting on the incident, Suswam described the accident as fatal and
thanked God for saving his life, that of his deputy and the entire
aides on the convoy who survived the crash. He noted that the ugly
incident does not in any way portend any political or traditional
implication.

Credit:leadeship