Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, on Saturday, said his administration will introduce death sentence for reckless drivers.
The consideration follows the death of 15 of his supporters in a road accident after they welcomed him to Tsafe Local Government Area.
The police spokesperson in Zamfara, Muhammed Shehu, said the accident occurred on Wednesday along Sokoto-Gusau road in Tsafe.
He said the police have commenced an investigation into the matter.
Also, the governor’s spokesperson, Zailani Bappa, said the victims of the crash are supporters of the governor from Tsafe Local Government Area who assembled and welcomed the governor’s entourage which returned from Abuja on Wednesday evening.
“While we were approaching Gusau, we got the news of the crash and the governor ordered for a u-turn and went to the accident scene and saw many trailers that are coming from Sokoto, one of them lost control and ran into three vehicles,” Mr Bappa said.
The scene of the crash was gory and some of the victims were rushed to the hospital, the official added.
The governor in a statement on Saturday through his Director Media, Public Enlightenment and Communication, Yusuf Idris, promised to reintroduce death sentence on reckless drivers in the state.
The governor stated this when he led members of his executive council and the management of BUA Group of industries on a condolence visit to the Emir of Gusau, Ibrahim Bello, over the death of the 15 people.
Such new law will also ensure that such reckless drivers will be compelled by law to pay compensation on every life lost, he said.
The governor also announced a donation of N2 million to families of each of the deceased who had a wife and N1.5 million to families of those unmarried among the deceased.
The governor also said he will put the next of kin of each of the victims on a monthly allowance of N50,000 each. He said the beneficiaries will remain on the state’s payroll till the end of his tenure as governor of the state.
He said his administration will introduce speed limit gauge on highways as well as weight measurement on trucks and drug tests on drivers in order to guard against rough and reckless driving.
Mr Matawalle urged the management of BUA company to call their drivers to order and caution them on the acceptable speed limit.
Earlier, the team leader from BUA, Aminu Suleiman, said they were in the state to condole with the government, Gusau emirate, people of the state and the immediate families of those who were killed as a result of the accident involving the company’s driver.
He prayed Allah to forgive the shortcomings of the deceased and for the government and people of the state to take heart over the unfortunate incident.
In his response, the Emir of Gusau, Mr Bello, thanked Governor Matawalle and BUA company for their concern. He said every life must taste death and as Muslims, such happenings are usually seen as an act of Allah who knows best why they happen at the time they happen.