Command Secondary School Abakaliki alumni demand probe into road accident that claimed seven lives of members
Command Secondary School, Abakaliki Alumni Association has urged the Federal government, National Assembly, and Ebonyi State government to investigate the road accident suffered by its members on the road to Spera In Deo junction along Enugu-Abakaliki Highway for their reunion anniversary.
The alumni, in a statement by its Commandant General Theodore Chukwu, said “Their bus had hit rubbles at a road construction site abandoned by a company working on the road for Ebonyi State government.
They said the bus burst into flames leading to the immediate death of five of their members and two members who suffered third degree burns died five days later.
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“On October 24, 2024, a bus belonging to PKO Transport Company headquartered in Lagos, conveying members of the Lagos Chapter of the Command Secondary School Alumni Association to their 40th Anniversary Celebration and Reunion was involved in a single vehicle accident around 11pm on the road to Spera In Deo junction along Enugu-Abakaliki Highway.
“The bus hit rubbles at a road construction site, left there by a company working for the Ebonyi State Government on the road. The bus burst into flames thereafter and 5 members of the Alumni were burnt to death on the spot. Two members who also suffered severe third degree burns died five days later in the ICU of the Akanu Ibiam Teaching Hospital on October 29, 2024.
“There were no caution or warning signs to guide or warn unsuspecting motorists like the ill fated bus and its unfortunate victims that they were approaching a construction site. Also there was no after care provided by the State government to the burns victims in the ICU who later passed on as result of their injuries. This gross negligence on the part of the Ebonyi State government on a construction site and their lack of concern for the victims afterwards is heartbreaking to the least.
“The victims were daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives who have left dependents and loved ones behind. The driver of the bus who could have helped save them also ran away and left them to their fate. He remembered to come back for his phone which was on the dashboard of the bus but decided against opening the door for the victims which may have improved their chances of survival no matter how slim. Even his own door which he opened to retrieve his phone, he shut back hard before running away for a second and final time.
“Deaths that could have been avoided and lives that could have been saved have now become accident statistics because of negligence at a government road construction site and a deranged inhuman driver who chose to save his phone rather than save human lives who he was responsible for as their driver. The CSSA Alumni Association is in deep mourning.
“Never before in the history of the school or its Alumni Association has such a calamity befallen this distinguished citadel of learning which has spawned military and other paramilitary officers, professionals, academicians, businessmen, corporate titans e.t.c.”
