It is with heavy heart that one mourns the passage of five officers of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) who died in a finish-up auto crash on the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road on Thursday. The accident reportedly involved a truck and a mini-bus conveying the NANS leaders.
The crash occurred at Ariam Ndioru Junction in Ikwuano Local Government area of Abia State. The road mishap, regrettably, decimated the ranks of the NANS, young Nigerians and budding intellectuals still learning the ropes of governance on the stump of education institutions' apex union.
In all, five officers of the NANS lay dead. Those who died include NANS Senate President, Mr. Donald Onukaogu; Mr. Abdulaziz Oladimeji, a candidate for the National President of the union from the University of Ibadan; Mr. Japhafa Duru, Zone B Assistant General Secretary, and Mr. Jerry Sorkar.
For each disaster really, there is grief; but in the case of these be-gone student union activists, fond memories from devastated parents, other family members, fellow students, lecturers and authorities of their various institutions, can only evoke patent feelings of agonies of variegated dimension. Their parents particularly are naturally to be marooned in some form of emotional breakdown or the other. But bearing in mind that human existence itself can, at times be akin to a flower bud in the orchard, which will blossom luxuriantly in the lush of a swaggering spring, and then, suddenly wither, there is as such the urge for courageous self-placating.
That dove-tails into a critical view of the attitude of most Nigerians on the road, especially citizens imbued with seemingly militarised power. From the NANS' galloping speed of the 'aluta continua' genre, to the derring-do of armed forces men, especially the braggadocio common with riot policemen handling the pilot and escort vehicles in politicians' convoys, the denouement of such impossible character has been trails of blood, consumed in road crash fatalities.
Only last year, some student union leaders from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in Ondo State perished on the Owo-Akure Road in what eyewitnesses described as a case of break-neck speed-turned awry. Other students across the country, either through excesses at moments of riots or through dangerous driving in the heat of rage or excitement, had crashed somehow, to become casualties, leaving their parents, siblings and other beloved ones to mourn.
The policemen in the convoy of governors, ministers and even a President are the worst culprits, as many of them usually egg on pliable civilian Government House drivers to speed as would overshoot vehicles' speedometer, and riotously too. Besides, even the civilians driving the politicians can at times swing in powerdrunkenness of the type that "Oh, I am above the law; I drive in a governor's convoy.'
I recall, without prejudice to any actor or victim of the era, my experience while a Media Assistant to Governor Adebayo Adefarati of Ondo State, of blessed memory. The incident occurred in March 2003, in the heat of our campaigns for the governor's second term ambition, which was not realised anyway. We were returning from Lagos where we had attended a book launch for an illustrious Ondo State indigene, Alhaji Mohammed Jobi-Fele, also now of blessed memory.
As we made to exit Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Hassan, driver of the press crew car which I boarded with other journalists, found that one of the windshield's wipers had suddenly turned wonky, amid a midday drizzle. He hurriedly parked to adjust it; but while back on the road, he increased his speed to a frightening level. I cautioned him but he merely smiled, saying I was afraid of death because of chumminess of political appointment. His comment drew laughter from everyone, but amid the jocosity, my warning persisted. He kept on the deadly speed anyway. But as he made to overtake the governor's car to take his protocol-arranged Number Two position in the convoy, the right, fore tyre of our car coursed a sharp object and behold, our driver lost control and the car kept sommersaulting. I think it sommersaulted five times and I had a feeling at that fleeting moment that I was almost 'crossing over', if not fatally wounded. But I miraculously escaped unhurt while some journalists and Hassan were seriously wounded. Unfortunately, Hassan gave up the next day at a private hospital in Ibadan.
Though most Nigerian roads are deathtraps owing to bad leadership which is an abiding Nigerian disease, some road users themselves are in most cases the architects of their misfortune, through disobedience to road signs, overspeeding and bare regard for other road users, especially the pedestrians.
It is, therefore, incumbent on government's law enforcement agencies like the Federal Road Safety Commission and the transport section of the Nigeria Police, to deploy modern vehicle monitor devices that are in vogue not only in the western world but in some West African countries like Benin Republic and Ghana, to track down traffic offenders.
Perhaps, if we were committed enough to safety on the roads, the NANS Five would have been alive.
