22nd July, 2010
The maturity exhibited by the staff of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday averted a clash between them and some mobile policemen on the Kubwa dual carriageway, NAN reports.
NAN reports that its staff bus with registration number FG 80 J47 was negotiating the temporary roundabout at the Federal Housing, Kubwa in FCT, at about 7 a.m. on Tuesday when a police Hilux van with the registration number BG 299 GWA hit it from the rear.
The Chairman of the NAN Bus Committee, Kubwa route, Mr. Matthias Ajudua, in an interview explained that the vehicle was conveying staff of the organisation to its head office in the Central Business District, when he heard a bang at the rear of the vehicle.
“We were in the bus from Kubwa to Central Business District, Garki, Abuja, when suddenly we realised that our bus has been hit and some of us came out to find out what happened and discovered that it was the police Hilux van behind us that hit our bus.
“On seeing that one of the pointers of our bus had a crack due to the hit, I made effort to find out from the driver of the police van in the best of civil disposition, but unfortunately my peaceful disposition was bluffed by some of the trigger happy policemen.
“Rather than offering apology for their wrong, some of the policemen alighted from the van with belligerent action suggestive of their readiness to challenge why NAN staff raised eyebrow to such dangerous driving.
“Realising the looming danger between the two fuming parties, I have to pacify the staff of the agency and we continued our journey, believing that two wrongs do not make a right,’’ the Chairman said.
He said that after hitting NAN staff bus, the police van also brushed another private car and the police driver only pulled back after much persuasion from the helpless civilian to enable him to proceed to his destination.
Ajudua called on the police authorities to put in place mechanism to check the conduct of their drivers on the wheels, especially on the Kubwa road under construction, to avoid such drivers soiling the name of the police force.
Reacting to the issue, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, condemned the action of the policemen at the scene, describing it as an act of “recklessness.”