•How three journalists perished in auto crash •NUJ declares seven-day mourning
From BAMIGBOLA
GBOLAGUNTE, Osogbo
The Nigeria Union of Journalists has declared a seven-day mourning in honour of three journalists who lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident in Ilesa, Osun State while returning to Lagos from Abuja where they had gone to attend a national meeting of the union.
The National President of the union, Mallam Garba Mohammed, said this at a press conference addressed in Osogbo yesterday after paying a visit to 10 other victims of the accident at the emergency unit of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Osogbo where they were receiving treatment.
The NUJ president who condoled with the family of the deceased journalists also directed all state councils and chapels of the union to suspend all activities till the expiration of the seven-day mourning.
Mohammed, who appealed to all Nigerians to pray for journalists in the country, said the union was going through a sad time as a result of the loss of the three members.
Some officials of the NUJ from Oyo and Lagos State councils were last Friday involved in a fatal auto crash which claimed the lives of Adolphus Okonkwo of the Voice of Nigeria, Kafayat Odunsi of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Tejuosho, Lagos and the chairman of the Radio Nigeria, Ibadan Network Centre of the NUJ, Tunde Oluwanike.
According to an account by one of the survivors, the accident occurred at 6.00pm at Osu junction near Ilesa, Osun State, when the rear tyre of the vehicle conveying them burst, thus making the vehicle to somersault about four times before it finally crashed in the bush. Mr Gbenga Opadotun who spoke on hospital bed said, "We were coming from Abuja where we held a meeting and by the time our vehicle got to Osu area, the rear tyre of our bus burst and the vehicle veered off the road before we somersaulted about eight to nine times and finally crashed into the bush."
Meanwhile, one of the survivors of the accident who was in critical condition, Mr. Sylva Okereke has been evacuated to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for proper medical attention, while two others were evacuated to Ibadan, Oyo state capital, for further treatment.
Many Nigerians have continued to troop to the LAUTECH Teaching hospital where the victims of the auto crash are receiving treatment.
Some of the early callers at the hospital included the state Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Tomori, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Sunday Akere, Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Mr Adekunle Amos and the President, Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr. Femi Adesina, who conveyed the message of his association to the victims.
Adesina, the Deputy Managing Director of The Sun, said the death of the three journalists was a great blow to the media family.
His words, "The news was received with a rude shock, but in all things, we should always thank God. We thank God for those who survived the accident and we pray to the Almighty God to condole with the families of those who died in the accident."
Via: Sun News Online
Well the mourning is understandable so we have to just deal with it. The media is surely very important in Nigeria....