Two Hospitalised, Vehicles Damaged as Victims Accuse ARTMA Officials of Causing Road Crash
By Faith Onyemuche
A commercial bus conductor, Mr. Nonso Oseoloka, and an official of the Anambra Road Traffic Management Agency, ARTMA, have been hospitalised, while vehicles were damaged following a road crash along the Asaba Onitsha Expressway.
Victims of the incident have accused ARTMA officials of causing the crash.
The incident, which occurred in the early hours of the day around the Bridge Head Upper Iweka axis, caused a major traffic gridlock before officers of the Nigeria Police, Bridge Head Division, intervened to restore the free flow of traffic.
A trader at Ogbogwu Market, Mrs. Chinwe Onyekwe, said she had just dropped off a passenger near Relief Market through the service lane at Lagos Park when an ARTMA official confronted her and demanded money.
She alleged that she explained to the official that she had only five hundred naira left after buying fuel and offered the money to him, but he refused, insisting that the amount was insufficient and that she had committed a traffic offence.
According to her, she suggested that they proceed to the ARTMA office to review video footage of where she had parked, after which the official entered her vehicle as they drove to the office.
Mrs. Onyekwe further alleged that while they were on their way, the official asked her to stop the vehicle. She said she could not stop in the middle of the road, leading to an argument between them.
She said that while they were still going back and forth, her vehicle was hit from behind by a bus, leaving the bus conductor, Mr. Nonso Oseoloka, seriously injured.
Following the crash, some commercial drivers reportedly blocked the major road and assaulted the ARTMA official.
Reacting to the incident, a member of the Onitsha Bus Drivers’ Taskforce, Mr. Austin Chibueze, alleged that commercial drivers were frequently harassed by ARTMA officials along the highway.
He appealed to the Anambra State Government to urgently investigate the activities of ARTMA officials, saying that transport operators could no longer pick up or drop off passengers without being confronted.
