Senate President, PDP commiserate with Kogi tanker fire victims
By Tunde Opalana
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has joined other Nigerians in sending condolences to the families of victims of the disastrous explosion on Wednesday of a fuel tanker on the federal highway in Lokoja, Daily Times gathered.
Lawan expressed grief over the gruesome accident in which more than a score of people, including school children, were reported to have lost their lives or property.
“It is sad and totally unacceptable that such tragedy keeps recurring on our roads despite ample road safety regulations and enforcement personnel.
“While we mourn those who have so unfortunately lost their lives and pray for the speedy recovery of those who are injured, the incident underscores the need for constant review of our road safety strategy and mechanism with a view to making them more effective in preventing carnage on our roads.
“Significantly improving road safety in Nigeria is an urgent challenge for the relevant authorities and other stakeholders in our transport sector. We have to bring an end to the rampant carnage on our roads,” Lawan said.
The Senate President also extended his condolences to the government and people of Kogi State over the tragic incident.
This is as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) expressed shocked and deeply grieved by the accident which occurred at the Felele area of Lokoja, the Kogi state capital.
The party was extremely distressed by this horrid and traumatizing incident, which, in a very painful manner, cut short the lives of hardworking compatriots, brought instant anguish to families, and painful material losses to many.
Party spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement Thursday said “it is even more disturbing that the fire raged without any intervention by authorities, which would have helped mitigate the effect.
“Indeed, the absence of fire and other emergency facilities around the area, despite the frequent occurrence of such accidents in the past signposts the failure and insensitivity of both the Federal and Kogi state governments towards the dangers that daily confront the people.
“Also, the major theatre of medical intervention in the state, the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Lokoja, had been under locks over a needless controversy on COVID-19.
“The recklessness of the state government has also increased the fatalities of the number of victims affected in the ugly incident”.
He said the PDP was shocked by the response of the Kogi State Deputy Governor, Edward Onoja, who, instead of assuring of a definite step to safeguard the lives of the people in the area, dwelt on lame excuses, when he visited the scene of the accident.
The party demanded the Federal Government put instant traffic measures to forestall such accidents as well as immediately establish emergency facilities in the area.
“Our party also calls on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fasola, to leave the comfort of their offices in Abuja and immediately visit the area as well as undertake a tour of our highways to witness the sorry state of infrastructure across our country, under their administration.
“Indeed, the PDP mourns. Our thoughts and prayers go to the families of the victims of this accident as well as others who have perished in various road accidents due to the horrible state of our roads”, the party said while it commiserated with the families of the victims, the Kogi State Polytechnic, parents of the school children as well as the entire people of Kogi state.
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