By Stanley Onyekwere
A truck driver, one Wilson Aniete, has been apprehended for allegedly attempting to kill Mr. Udunobun Otaigbe, the ‘Truck Timing Unit Head’ of the FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), on the Kugbo stretch of the Abuja-Keffi road.
It was gathered that Aniete, who drove a Mitsubishi truck with a Lagos registration number AAA -477 XB had at the weekend rammed into the VIO personnel, popularly referred to as ‘Santos’ while on official duty.
The victim was knocked down by the driver of the truck around Karu bridge, while leading his men to stop trucks and other heavy duty vehicles from plying the ever busy road, during rush hour.
It was learnt that the truck was initially flagged down and parked by the roadside, but in an attempt to escape, the truck driver started the vehicle and ran into the senior officer who was attending to other issues and not looking in the direction of the hitherto parked truck.
And, while some of his men struggled to rescued him, others chased the fleeing driver who could not go far due to high vehicular presence on the road.
However, it took the timely intervention from men of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other security personnel, to swiftly apprehend the rampaging truck driver, who was later taken to the Karu Police Division.
The DRTS personnel who is gradually regaining consciousness is currently at the intensive care unit of the Asokoro District Hospital even as his face, hands and legs are badly bruised with various degrees of injuries while his Femur bone on the left leg was badly broken.
Reacting to the development, Chairman of FCT Ministerial Taskteam on Traffic Management, Comrade Ikharo Attah condemned the action of the truck driver, describing it as barbaric and inhuman.
Attah recalled that the truck timing unit of the DRTS, Kugbo Area command was formed several years ago, following an FCT Ministerial directive that heavy duty trucks be not allowed to ply the road at peak hours in the mornings and evenings when workers are either going to work or returning home after close of duty.
“These are the drivers responsible for the high profile accidents that claim several lives on the road during rush hours. For goodness sake, why will the driver decide to drive off when already parked by the men who were carrying out their official duties?”
“The driver will be prosecuted for this gruesome act. When the judicial workers resume after the Democracy day public holiday he will be arraigned possibly on charges of voluntary attempted murder, evading arrest and other traffic violations”, the Taskteam Chairman stressed.
He however pleaded with drivers of heavy duty vehicles to be patient during peak periods, in order to prevent multiple road crashes on Abuja’s busy roads.
