A campaign procession organised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in support of its governorship candidate for the August 15 Osun election, Bola Oyebamiji, turned tragic on Wednesday after a truck reportedly crashed into participants in Ede, leaving one person dead and seven others injured.
The deceased was identified as AbdulRasaq Ahmed. The incident occurred near the Oke Gada area as party supporters took part in a mobilisation exercise for the APC candidate.
Confirming the development, the Chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee of the Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji Campaign Committee, Remi Omowaiye, said the injured victims had been taken to private hospitals in Ofatedo and Ede for treatment.
“One person was killed in the accident. Seven others were injured, but one out of the seven was critically injured,” Omowaiye said.
An eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity described the incident as unfortunate and called for a full investigation. He alleged that the truck driver failed to comply with traffic instructions issued by officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), who were managing traffic around the campaign route.
“It was a sad incident and one which could have been avoided. The coordinator of the Federal Road Safety Corps had earlier directed that vehicles should use one lane of the road while APC members used the other lane.
“However, the truck driver drove through the lane we were walking on and rammed into the crowd. The boy was killed in the process, while many got injured and are receiving treatment at the hospital,” he said.
Following a condolence visit to the family of the deceased, the APC deputy governorship candidate, Benjamin Adereti, also demanded a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash.
“We are still trying to unravel the reason behind this. The way the incident happened looked like the truck deliberately rammed into our party members in Ede while campaigning.
“I want to call on the security agencies in Osun and Nigeria to carry out a thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes of this incident. If this is a deliberate action by Ademola Adeleke and the Accord Party to stop us from forging ahead with our campaign, I can assure them we are unstoppable.
“I commiserate with the family of AbdulRasaq Ahmed over this unfortunate incident. May God console the family. We all know the pain of losing a child,” Adereti said.
Authorities are yet to release the outcome of any official investigation into the incident.