• Survivors recall close shaves with death

In a moment of deep grief comes a glimmer of joy. A newborn baby boy has arrived on Eid-el-Kabir festival, six days after the father, Abubakar Yakubu Isma’il, died in the vehicle conveying members of the Kano State contingent from the National Sports Festival held in Ogun State.

Abubakar, one of the dedicated members of the medical team that accompanied the athletes, was among the 22 casualties of the fatal auto crash that occurred last Saturday. His newly born son will only be told of his dad’s tragic death when he grows up.

For Abubakar’s wife, Ummi Abubakar, it has been a harrowing experience.

Ummi was cooking when the tragic news reached her. Her family said she fled immediately to the scene but was blocked from getting close to the corpses. She continued to cry uncontrollably at the Abdullahi Wase Hospital where the bodies were deposited and later released to families for burial.

Meanwhile, the family was worried that her expected day of delivery (EDD) had reached. So, they took her to a private hospital in Tarauni and placed her under close observation, and on Saturday, he was delivered of the baby boy.

The new baby will be named Abubakar after the late father in a ceremony with the slaughter of a ram in seven days, according to the family.

Tijjani Isma’il, an elder brother of the late Abubakar, said the deceased was a medical doctor, who was working on the thesis of his PhD. He said Abubakar’s demise was a loss he would never forget.

Tijjani said it was not long he spoke with Abubakar before the accident that consumed him and 21 others occurred. According to him, Abubakar usually alighted at Tashar Yari, a town after Zaria, when returning from such trips.

If he had come down at Tashar, he would have escaped the accident. This time, however, he had to get to the city and get certain things done before he would return to the village.

After their successful participation in this year’s National Sports Festival in Abeokuta, Ogun State, it was time to return home. They were to travel a distance of 1,000 kilometers back to Kano.

They had two busses -one in good shape, the other faulty. The sound bus hit the road at about 12am on Friday morning and arrived in Kano on Friday night at 10pm.

The ill-fated vehicle gave a premonition when it developed a fault upon arrival in Abeokuta and new spare parts were bought to fix it.

While heading home, it broke down in Lokoja and later again in Abuja where 34 of those on board spent much of the night.

It was the following day (Saturday) around 9am that they started calling their relatives and friends of their impending arrival. They were now at Dakatsalle, along Kano-Zaria highway, just 40 kilometres to their destination.

Abubakar, imagine his joy of reuniting with his wife, who was expecting a baby. But then, tragedy struck! The bus carrying the team veered off a bridge, somersaulted and turned around several times.

Nineteen of the occupants were confirmed dead at the scene of the mishap. The death toll later rose to 22, leaving nine of the victims in critical conditions.

The injured are still receiving medical attention at Kura General Hospital and Murtala Mohammed Specialists Hospital, both in Kano.

Among the dead were majority of the young athletes, coaches and officials, including three medical personnel, two journalists, a mechanic and two of the best drivers of the state’s sports commission.

The names of the dead were given as Nasiru Abdullahi, Aminu Muhammad, Shehu Sai’du, Usman Muhammad, Sani Yusuf, Muhammad Aminu, Hamal Dahiru, Abdurrahman Muhd, Abdul’aziz Auwalu, Nasiru Adam, Ibrahim Salisu, Bashir Bello and Imamumalik Umar.

Others included Bilal Salisu, Ashiru Shu’aibu, Abdussamad Rabiu, Abubakar Isma’il, Bello Muhd, Usaini Garba, Isah Usman Aliyu, Isah Ibrahim and Abdullahi Saleh Trigger.

The deceased have been buried, with the support of N1 million to each of the affected families by the Kano State Government, as well as a donation of N21 million from Ogun State.

Kano State Deputy Governor, who was at the hospital, said the state government had thought of according the deceased athletes state burial but the families decided that they wanted to carry their dead to their various communities for burial, according to Ibrahim Umar, the acting director of the Kano State Sports Commission.

Twist of Fate

In a twist of faith, some members of the contingent left the ill-fated Coastal bus for the sound one to escape the accident, while some left the sound bus to join the ill-fated one.

By their tradition, as the Coastal bus developed a fault, the chief driver of the state sports commission, Abdurrahman Muhd, left the sound vehicle and joined it, but together with the commission’s second driver, Nasiru Adam, they lost their lives at Dakatsalle.

It had not been established at press time the driver behind the wheels at the time of the accident.

Similarly, the PRO, Ibrahim Galadima, left the sound vehicle to the ill-fated bus, saying that he could not leave them behind in the faulty vehicle. He also died in the auto crash.

On the other hand, the chief coach of the state volleyball team, Danjuma, entered the Coastal bus but went out, saying that the vehicle was not in good shape. “I’ll find my way to Kano,” he said, as if he had foreknowledge of the impending tragedy.

Also, the chief coach of Dembe (traditional boxing), Dan-Litti, escaped the accident by a whisker. He had entered the bus, but when the vehicle could not pick after three failed attempts at starting the engine, he left with his boxers to the other bus.

Why the accident when two of the best drivers were in?

While some blamed the accident on break failure, others are of the view that the driver of the Coastal bus might have dozed off after being exhausted.

However, a source, Abdulgafar Oladimeji, said the bus, which was donated to the sports commission in 2017 by ex-governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, had been seriously “abused,” without proper maintenance.

A former driver of the bus, sacked by the sports commission, said he was fired for refusing to “manage” the bus when it was in bad condition.

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said it would investigate the incident. (Nation)