The Nation Newspaper

Tag: truck

  • Truck crushes pregnant woman, six others to death in Ogun

    Truck crushes pregnant woman, six others to death in Ogun

    Seven persons, including a pregnant woman, were crushed to death in an accident involving a white Volvo truck and a red Nissan blue bird at mechanic village along OGTV/Ajebo road in Abeokuta.

    Mr Clement Oladele, the Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), in Ogun, who confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, said the incident happened on Tuesday night.

    Oladele said that the truck with registration number: KJA 731 XP had break failure and lost control which led to a head-on collision with the blue bird car with registration number: ED 638 EKY, coming from opposite direction.

    “The truck was coming from OGTV road going into Abeokuta, while the car was going to Mile 6. The truck had break failure, lost control and crossed to the opposite lane and hit the incoming vehicle.

    ” The accident involved nine people – seven males, one female and one child, but five males, one female and one child died in the accident.

    “The only dead female victim was pregnant, ” he said.

    The sector commander said the corpses of the victims were taken to Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta, mortuary, and the injured ones were admitted to the same hospital.

    He, however, said that the driver of the truck who caused the accident had fled.

  • Truck driver held for ‘N400,000 theft’

    Truck driver held for ‘N400,000 theft’

    Rapid Response Squad Operatives have arrested a truck driver, who specialises in recharging call cards from victims’ bank account.

    Ebenezer Oyeneye, 50, who lives at 4, Moyinoluwa Avenue, Ijoko Lemode, Ogun State, was arrested by the decoy team of RRS, who had been on his trail since last year.

    One of Oyeneye’s victims  told officers at Aguda Divisional Headquarters, Surulere that an unknown person has been recharging his phone call card from her bank account since July 2016.

    She noted that the fraud began on July 4 after she received a debit alert from her bank that she had recharged a sum of N1,000 call credit  for her phone line without initiating such transaction.

    “I was amazed when my bank debited my account and the same thing continued for like 11 months,” she said.

    The case was transferred to the  RRS.

    RRS said Oyeneye confessed that he started using a short code in July 2016 to load his call card from people’s bank account.

    He said he resorted to the crime after the truck he was driving was retrieved by the owner due to a misunderstanding.

    RRS quoted him as saying: “I tried it the following day and I got a N3,000 balance which was also credited and so I  continue day in, day out, for weeks and months. I became overwhelmed by the value of my call credit balance and resorted to selling to people around me for months.

    “The maximum I can recharge from the account is N3,000 per day because my network provider restricted me to a daily top up of the said amount.”

    Oyeneye said he had recharged up to N400,000.

    Police spokesman Olarinde Famous Cole, an Assistant Superintendent (ASP) urged members of the public to seek professional advice from their financial institution before connecting their bank account to any online transaction and report immediately any strange activity on their bank account to the necessary authorities.

  • Soldiers chased weapon-laden truck into Kanu’s home, says Buratai

    Soldiers chased weapon-laden truck into Kanu’s home, says Buratai

    •Court hears case on Kanu’s whereabouts

    Soldiers chased a truck laden with weapons into a house said to belong to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu’s father   in Afara-Ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State, on September 14, Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai has said.

    Gen. Buratai said owners of the truck detonated the explosives on the day Kanu was last seen in public.

    He said the suspects’ intention was to frustrate the move to arrest them by the troops

    Gen, Buratai stated these in a counter-affidavit he filed in reaction to a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja in Kanu’s name by his lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor.

    The suit seeks, among others, an order to compel Gen. Buratai, listed as defendant, to produce the IPOB leader, who the plaintiff claimed was in the custody of the military.

    IPOB claimed, in the suit filed shortly after Kanu went missing, that the soldiers, who allegedly invaded his father’s house on September 14, took him away.

    But, in the counter-affidavit deposed to on his behalf by Col. A.A Yusuf, attached to the COAS’s office at the Army Headquarters, Abuja, Gen. Buratai denied the plaintiff’s claim. He said the soldiers had no contact with Kanu

    He said: during “a peaceful movement” which was part of the “Operation Python Dance II” on September 14, some soldiers saw a truck and flagged it down, but the truck and its occupants ran over Army’s barricade and defied soldiers’ order stopping them to be searched.

    He said the soldiers pursued the fleeing truck, loaded with arms and ammunition, into a compound.

    Buratai said the compound turned out to be the one Kanu later claimed, in the suit, to belong to him and his father.

    He said soldiers, who pursued the truck into Kanu’s father’s  house, did not fire any shot but that the occupants of the fleeing truck deliberately ignited the ammunition in the truck.

    “It was the legitimate attempt by the officers and men of the Nigerian Army to arrest the fleeing occupants of the truck and impound the truck that precipitated the deliberate igniting of the ammunition in the truck by persons now believed to be IPOB members.

    “The act of the IPOB members resulted in sporadic explosions within the said applicant’s compound.

    “The applicant (Kanu) is not and has neither being in our custody nor in the custody of any person, officer or institution receiving instruction directly or indirectly from him.

    “The applicant was not at any time whatsoever arrested, taken into custody or detained by the Officers and men of the Nigerian Army.

    “The officers and men of the Nigerian Army did not have any contact whatsoever or confrontation or any operational engagement with the applicant on September 12 or 14, 20l7 or any other date thereafter, contrary to the  allegations in the affidavit in support of the  application.

    “The allegation of invasion of the South-Eastern part of Nigeria by officers and men of the Nigerian Army, especially the applicant’s home and or residence is totally false,” the COAS said.

    He added that his men, acting in compliance with “approved Rules of Engagement and Code of Conduct which prohibit any form of human right abuses” did not kill scores of people during the military operation in the South East as alleged in the suit.

    “The allegations of firing of live bullets on the applicant’s relatives, killing of scores of persons, wounding and arrest of many, attack and invasion of applicant’s home, barricade at Isialangwa, arrest and torture of civilians by officers and me of the Nigerian Army, as stated by the deponent, are a figment of his imagination as same are not true,” he said.

    The case is expected to come up today for hearing before Justice Binta Nyako.

  • Mother, two kids escape as truck rams into house

    Mother, two kids escape as truck rams into house

    A woman and her two children alongside other tenants have escaped being crushed by a truck which rammed into their residence in Aba, the commercial capital of Abia State.

    Mrs. Lucy Nnaji was said to be bathing her children when the incident took place in the Ogbor Hill area of the city.

    The Nation gathered that property worth millions of naira was damaged in the incident, leaving the affected residents in agony.

    The truck, with the registration number Lagos AAA 114 XU, was loaded with crates of empty 7Up bottles and heading to Aba from Akwa Ibom State.

    It was learnt that the driver while descending a hill leading to the brewing company lost control of the vehicle as a result of brake failure and rammed it into the building after attempts to control the vehicle failed.

    Mrs Nnaji’s husband, Sunday Nnaji, attributed the escape to God’s mercy, saying it was divine intervention that saved his wife and two children from calamity.

    He added that he wouldn’t have been able to explain it to his relatives and in-laws.

    According to Nnaji, his wife was bathing their two children in front of their shop when the truck rammed into the building.

    He said following the impact of the accident, some debris fell on them but no one died.

    Another shop owner narrating what happened said he was with his wife, Lucy in the shop when he left to see someone nearby.

    Mr. Uko said he was still on his way going when the incident occurred and he rushed back and saw the trailer’s bonnet resting right inside their shop.

    Uko said his wife was saved because she saw the truck coming uncontrollably towards their shop and she ran away before it ended into the building.

    A resident of the building, Mrs. Chinyere Agu lamented that household properties in her apartment were destroyed beyond repair as a result of the accident.

    An eyewitness, Okechukwu Nwagbaoso said before the truck rammed into the building, it uprooted an electric transformer and hit two vehicles including a Mercedes Benz C-180 model.

    He said the wife of one of the occupants of the car gave birth to twin boys earlier in the day and that they were going to see them in the hospital when the accident occurred.

    Nwagbaoso said that they were grateful to God that despite the intensity of the accident, no life was lost and called on government to assist those whose properties were destroyed.

    The driver of the truck, Ibanga Edet disclosed that he was coming from Akwa Ibom and on reaching the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church, Ogbor Hill less than half a kilometer to the 7UP Bottling Company the brakes of the truck failed.

    Edet said he had to control the truck down the Ogbor slope before he lost control and the trailer hit two vehicles, uprooted an electric transformer before ramming into the building.

    He thanked God for sparing his life and averting the death of occupants of the building.

     

  • Truck crushes four, injures 10 in Ibadan

    Truck crushes four, injures 10 in Ibadan

    Four persons were crushed to death yesterday in Ibadan when a truck conveying sharp sand reportedly suffered break failure along the Moniya-Iseyin road.

    At least ten persons also suffered varying degree of injuries while five motorcycles and three tricycles were destroyed beyond repair.

    The victims included a motorcycle operator, a woman, an underaged boy and a trader at the Moniya butcher market.

    Our correspondent gathered while all the victims met their misfortune at the point of doing business, the underaged boy was on an errand to purchase vegetables at the market.

    It was also learnt the victims died at the spot except the woman who gave up the ghost while being rushed to the hospital.

    The driver of the truck was said to have escaped from the scene of the incident unhurt.

    Sources around the scene said the casualty figure would have been higher but for a member of the transport union unit at the Moniya garage who alerted people to scamper to safety following the haphazard manner the truck was descending the hilly road.

    It was gathered the driver was struggling to gain control of the truck suspected to have left a garage within the Moniya axis with the load of sand.

    Chairman National Union of Road Transport Workers, (Motorcycle) Moniya Garage Unit, Idris Oladoja, described the incident as a sad development that could have been averted.

    Confirming the causality figure, Oladoja said the portholes on the road as well as its narrowness contributed to the accident, urging the government to come to the aid of the road users in the axis.

    His counterpart at the tricycle unit, Femi Adeniyi, said he was the one who saw how the tipper was wavering in its movement while descending the hilly but rough road while it was about 200 metres away.

    He said despite screaming and shouting the motorcycles and tricycles parked by roadside to get clear of the road, the noise from the environment and vehicular movement made it difficult for people to get the message on time after which the tipper swerved into the butcher market.

    Men of the police force from nearby Moniya Divisional headquarters and Ojoo were seen at the scene maintaining traffic flow as well as law and order.

    Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command Adekunle Ajisebutu said two people were confirmed dead and their corpses deposited at the State Hospital, Mortuary, Ringroad, Ibadan for autopsy.

    He added the erring driver of the tipper has been arrested and the truck recovered to the station for VIO inspection.

  • Truck kills six, injures 10 in Jos market

    A truck loaded with grains lost control in a market at Faringada, Jos North Local Government of Plateau State and killed six persons.

    Not fewer than 10 persons also sustained injury in the accident which occurred at about 7pm Thursday evening.

    Eye witness said the truck lost control as a result of brake failure. The truck which was loaded with maize, rammed into vehicles and commercial tricycles with passengers on board.

    “The driver of a Man Diesel lorry conveying maize from Saminaka in Kaduna State to Onisha suddenly lost control as a result of break failure at Farin Gada area of Jos North Local Government Area of the state, causing confusion and pandemonium in the area,” said Sanusi Musa, an eye witness.

    It was further learnt that it took men of the Special Task Force and other Samaritans, two hours, before the bodies of those trapped under the lorry could be retrieved.

    The Nation gathered that three passengers died in the tricycles while another  three also gave up the ghost in a car believed to have been occupied by a driver, his fiancée and one other passenger.

    However, the Police Public Relations Officer, Plateau State Command, DSP M. T. Tyopev, confirmed that three people died in the accident, adding that the driver of the lorry, Fatai Onaolapo, had been arrested and at present helping the police to unravel the cause of the accident.

    According him, the preliminary investigations carried out, the driver who was coming from Saminaka in Kaduna State was heading for Onitsha with a lorry load of maize, adding that those at the scene attributed the accident to over speeding.

    He said those who sustained injuries are at present receiving treatment at Bingham University Teaching Hospital Jos.

  • Policeman ‘shoots’ truck owner at Lagos ports

    Activities were disrupted at the Tin-Can Island Port Complex yesterday after a yet-to-be identified police officer shot a truck owner simply identified as Alhaji Dan Jos.

    The officer, it was learnt, is attached to the RORO Division of the police.

    Members of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Tin Can Chapter are demanding that the officer should face the law.

    According to an eyewitness, the officer shot Dan Jos for challenging him for urinating on a truck parked in the garage

    He was said to have invited his colleagues who provided him the gun he used to shoot Dan Jos.

    “The police officer was urinating on one of our trucks when Alhaji challenged him, it later led to an altercation and he called his colleagues from the division who came and shot Alhaji at the thigh.”

    The RTEAN chapter Chairman, Isiaka Olalere, said: “I have just been told now that one of my members has been shot by a police officer. I am going to the garage to put everything under control.”

    Contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Maritime Command, Sadik Olatunde, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said he was not aware of the crisis.

    He, however, promised to get across to the Divisional Police Officer to put things under control.”

  • Truck kills maritime reporter in Lagos

    Truck kills maritime reporter in Lagos

    A truck Wednesday, afternoon knocked down and killed a maritime reporter, Segun Agbolade, in the Trinity area, Apapa, Lagos.

    Agbolade, popularly known as Effisy, was said to be riding on a motorcycle, popularly called ‘okada’ on his way out of the Apapa gridlock when the sad accident that claimed his life occurred.

    Before his death, Agbolade worked with Sky Times newspaper.

    He was an alumnus of Lagos State Polytechnic.

    He is the second maritime journalist to die in one week.

    Last Saturday, another maritime reporter, Kayode Atofolaki of the New Nigerian Newspaper died prematurely in Kwara State after a brief illness.

    The duo are married with children and left behind aged parent.

  • Dangote sets up truck plant

    Dangote sets up truck plant

    Dangote Group is establishing a multi-million dollar vehicle assembly plant project in Lagos.

    The firm is partnering a leading Chinese Company, National Heavy Duty Truck Group Company Limited, SINOTRUCK, to produce several thousands of trucks used mainly for haulage business from its newly promoted assembly plant at Ikeja, Lagos.

    The deal, worth $100 million and expected to have an assembly plant to produce 10,000 trucks per year, was signed in May 2014 in China, making it the eighth of Shandong, China (SINOTRUK), to be built abroad.

    According to the deal agreement, the plant is 60 per cent owned by Dangote Group, trading under Dangote Industries Limited, leaving SINOTRUK with the remaining 40 per cent equity stake.

    The plant is expected to generate jobs for 3,000 workersl.

    The Group’s Chief Corporate Communication Officer, Anthony Chiejina, said the project  when fully operational would spare the nation the huge amount of forex spent on importation.

  • Truck pusher pleads guilty to drug trafficking

    A truck pusher, Wilson Sunday, has appeared before a Federal High Court in Lagos for drug trafficking.

    Sunday, 27, pleaded guilty to the charge brought against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on the offence.

    Following his plea, the Prosecutor, Mr Jeremiah Aernan, prayed the court for a date for review of facts and asked that the accused be remanded in prison pending the review.

    Justice Abdulazeez Anka adjourned the case till January 19 for review, and ordered that the accused be remanded in prison pending the date.

    The accused was said to have committed the offence last May 25.

    The prosecutor said the accused was arrested at the Cele area of Ojo in Lagos, where he sold wraps of Cannabis Sativa also known as Indian hemp.

    According to him, the narcotics recovered from the accused weighed about 1.3 kg.

    He said the Cannabis was classified as a restricted narcotic bearing similar nature with cocaine and heroin LSD.