3 Journalists’ death: Govs, senators, others commiserate with NUJ

GOVERNORS Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State; Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State; Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State; Babatunde Fasola (SAN) of Lagos State; Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore; Deputy Senate Whip, Senator Hosea Agboola and the Muslim Right Concern (MURIC), among others, have condoled with NUJ and journalists in the country over the deaths of three journalists who met their untimely death in an auto crash which occurred around 6 p.m. at Osu in Ilesha, Osun State, on Friday.

It would be recalled that some officials of the NUJ, mostly from Oyo and Lagos States councils were on Friday evening involved in a fatal auto crash which claimed the lives of Adolphous Okonkwo of the Voice of Nigeria, Kafayat Odunsi of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Tejuosho, Lagos and the chairman of the NUJ Radio Nigeria, Ibadan Network Centre chapter, Tunde Oluwanike.

The accident reportedly occurred when the rear tyre of the Lagos NUJ vehicle conveying them burst, thus making the vehicle to somersault about eight times before it finally crashed in the bush.

Narrating their experience to Sunday Tribune, one of the survivors and chairman of the Oyo State chapter of the NUJ, Mr Gbenga Opadotun 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 in the bush”.

One of the survivors of the accident who was in a critical condition, Mr Sylva Okonkwo, had been taken to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for proper medical attention, while two others, namely;  Gbenga Opadotun and Alhaja Fatimah Abdulkareem were referred to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State for further medical treatment.

NUJ declares seven days mourning
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union of Journalists has declared seven days mourning in honour of dead.