THE Bauchi State police command on Monday confirmed the death of a former Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr Zuwaira Hassan, as well a five-year-old boy, Abdulaziz Sanusi, in a motor accident at Zaranda village, along the Bauchi-Jos Road.
This is just as a family of three also died in an accident along the Benin-Auchi expressway in Edo State.
In Bauchi, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Ahmed Wakili, said the accident, involved two vehicles and a black motorcycle with registration QN 833 PKY in the early hours of Monday.
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Dr Hassan, who was commissioner for health during the immediate past administration of Mohammed Abubakar, was the Head of Department, Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.
She was 46 years of age.
The police spokesperson said the Toyota Corolla car with registration number, LFA 26 AK, conveying Dr Hassan, and driven by one Anas Umar, was heading to Bauchi from Jos, when the five-year-old boy tried to cross the main road.
DSP Wakili said in order not to hit the boy, the car veered off the road and had a head-on collision with a white Peugeot Boxer bus with registration number, ALK 295 XA, after it had hit a Jincheng motorcycle by the road side.
The police spokesperson said immediately the command got the report of the accident, it drafted its personnel to the scene, evacuated the victims to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) in Bauchi, where the two were confirmed dead by doctors on duty.
Also confirming the incident in a telephone interview, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Bauchi State, Garkwu Adamu, who is a brother to the deceased, said her funeral prayer was held at about 3:00 p.m. at the Muslim burial ground along Gombe Road.
He added that the former commissioner left behind a husband and three children.
In Edo State, it was gathered that the deceased, a man, his wife and their infant child, were heading towards the Auchi end of the road when a Toyota Camry vehicle rammed into their vehicle and pushed it under a truck loaded with soft drinks parked by the roadside.
A source who resides close to the area, and who gave his name as Osarenren, said he was sleeping at about 3:00 a.m. when he heard the noise of the impact of the accident.
He said several trucks were in the habit of parking in the area because of a soft drinks company located in the area.
He said residents of the area had been appealing to the bottling company to move their trucks from the side of the road to no avail, adding that the community in Uhunmwode Local Government Area had even provided a land for articulated vehicles of the bottling company to be parking, but they still preferred to park by the road side.
He source said that the bodies of the victims had been deposited at the White Cross Hospital, Ogueka, adding that efforts were already being made to locate their family members.
Speaking in a telephone interview, the Edo State sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr Henry Benamaisia, said he was yet to be briefed of the incident.
