The convoy of the Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, on Sunday was reported to have killed a man and injured one other.
A source who spoke with TheNigerian on the condition of anonymity on Monday said the accident happened at Ihugh in the Vandeikya Local Government Area of the state.
Our correspondent learnt that the accident was caused by dust emanating from the untarred road which blocked the visibility of the vehicles on the convoy.
The source said, “The governor has been in his local government (Vandeikiya) for almost four days now for the Christmas celebration.
“Yesterday (Sunday), he was going to the church and his vehicle was in the front followed by other vehicles when one of the vehicles in the convoy veered off the road because the driver couldn’t see clearly due to dust on the untarred road and rammed into a motorcycle.
“One person died and others sustained injuries,” the source told our correspondent in a telephone chat.
However, the Technical Adviser to the governor on Media, Publicity and Strategic Communication, Solomon Iorpev, told our correspondent that the accident happened several minutes after the governor had been in the church.
He admitted that the vehicle involved was one of those in the governor’s convoy but explained that the vehicle was not in a convoy when the incident happened.
Iorpev said, “The vehicle was alone on a mission when it got involved in an accident and this was caused by dust.
“The road is very dusty and there was an oncoming vehicle in the opposite direction while the vehicle tried to avoid the oncoming vehicle, it rammed into a motorcycle which caused the accident.”
Though the media aide did not speak on the casualty, he regretted the incident.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command, Catherine Anene, said the case had yet to be reported to the command.
