A former Governor of Akwa Ibom
State, now Senate Minority Leader,
Godswill Akpabio, escaped death
Monday morning after his car got
involved in an accident along the
Airport Road in Abuja.
The accident occurred near the Bolingo
Junction close to the Ship House,
Abuja.
A witness said Mr. Akpabio was
moving in a convoy of vehicles towards
the City Gate when his vehicle ran into
another car.
“My wife and I were coming from the
NNPC Mega Station and we stopped at
the traffic light by Bolingo Hotel
Junction. When the green light showed
and we made to move, there was this
siren blaring Mercedes Benz jeep that
came from the town and almost
crashed onto my car. I don’t know
how we dodged but another that was
behind the jeep hit the car behind me
and tumbled on its side.
“I and my wife rushed out of our
vehicle and helped the driver bring out
his boss. When we brought him out,
we found that it was former governor
Godswill Akpabio.
“At the time we brought him out, the
siren was still blaring. We put him in
the other vehicle and he was rushed to
the National Hospital.”
The witness said Mr. Akpabio was
badly shaken and was in a traumatic
condition when he was brought out of
the crashed vehicle.
He said the former governor was
apparently rushing out of the city
when his convoy beat the traffic and
crashed.
A security official said the former
governor was at the National Trauma
Center.
The source however noted that Mr.
Akpabio was later moved to a private
section of the hospital for X-ray and
other investigations.
The driver to the former governor,
simply called David who confirmed the accident.
Mr. David said his boss was in stable condition but
declined to say how the accident happened. He wore
a black jeens trouser with a white stripped shirt.
When contacted on the telephone, the Chief Medical
Director of the hospital, J. Momoh, said he could not
speak on Mr. Akpabio’s case because he has no
authorisation from the family.
Mr. Momoh, who argued that it is against medical
ethics to speak about a patient in admission, did not
however deny that Mr. Akpabio was being admitted
in the facility.
“I cannot speak about a patient in admission without
getting approval from his family. You should
therefore excuse me,” Mr. Momoh said.
When reminded that Mr. Akpabio is a public official
and Nigerian Senate Minority Leader and not a quiet
family man, Mr. Momoh still insisted he cannot
speak on the matter.
At about 12.25p.m. Mr. Akpabio’s successor,
Governor, Udom Emmanuel, arrived in a three-
vehicle convoy, led by a Toyota Jeep, with
registration number, Yab 474 BG.
Mr. Udom was driven in a BMW salon car with the
number plates covered.
