By Chinedu Chukwulozie
Speculations have always abounded that a great percentage of traffic crashes in Nigeria go unreported or unpublished, mainly due to the absence of official reports from traffic authorities, for reasons best known to them.
This scenario appears to be unfolding in Anambra State, where the Acting Sector Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), RC Margaret Onobe, unannouncedly expelled a journalist from a media forum for exposing an unreported fatal crash that recently claimed lives and injured many in the state.
According to the Anambra-based journalist Izunna Okafor, his removal from the FRSC Anambra Media Forum occurred late Friday night, just a few hours after he published a report on the fatal early-morning auto crash which occured in Awka, the capital city of the state. The report, which he also shared in the Forum and other media platforms, is attached below:
Two Transporters Killed in Anambra Auto Crash
By Izunna Okafor, Awka
An early morning auto crash has claimed the lives of two transport workers in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State.
It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 6 AM on Friday at the Anambra Comfort Line loading bay along the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, killing two and injuring some others.
Reports further have it that the victims—a driver and a loader—were preparing a Toyota Sienna for a trip to Lagos when a Lexus RX 350 lost control and crashed into the stationary vehicle.
Eyewitnesses said the Lexus, driven by a young man with a female passenger suspected to be his girlfriend, was speeding before the collision. While the two transport workers died on the spot, the driver and his companion, however, came out unhurt.
Although the Lexus driver attributed the accident to brake failure, some witnesses suspected distraction, fatigue, or intoxication.
The argument that followed heightened tensions at the scene, as colleagues and relatives of the deceased tried to confront the driver, accusing him of reckless driving. However, park authorities and law enforcement agencies intervened to prevent violence, eventually taking the driver and his passenger into custody, while the officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in the state also cleared the scene.
As at the time of filing this report, the Federal Road Safety Corps was yet to issue any official statement regarding the crash.
However, according to the journalist, shortly after he published the report and shared it in the FRSC Anambra Media Forum and other media groups, the FRSC Acting Spokesperson in the state, RC Onobe, deleted the post and also expelled him from the WhatsApp group. He said the Forum, which serves as a platform for the State FRSC and journalists to interact and exchange information, has Onobe as its sole administrator.
Okafor further revealed that his attempts to reach the FRSC Spokesperson to understand the reason for her action were unsuccessful, as she neither answered nor returned his call.
He also disclosed that the following day, he contacted the State Sector Commander of FRSC in Anambra, CC Joyce Alexander, who exonerated him of any wrongdoing and assured him that she would instruct the Spokesperson to reinstate him in the group. He said the Sector Commander, who also confirmed the accident and the authenticity of news report, though, blamed him for not contacting the FRSC before publishing the news.
Despite this discussion, Okafor, however, noted that, hours after, he was yet to be re-added to the group as expected.
More so, it was gathered that 24 hours after the crash, the FRSC still had not issued any official report on the incident—raising questions about whether there was a hidden motive behind both the action and inaction of the FRSC Anambra regarding the fatal crash, its media coverage, and the accompanying reactions of the Acting Spokesperson.
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