.At a time that information now travels at 4 times the speed of sound, the terrible News of the Crash had spread all over the world like a Bush Fire in the Hamattan, drawing different emotional response from all over the world.
I can only talk of my own reaction in this article and what I guess could possibly have been the reaction of the British Authorities like the current British Prime Minister and the current Conservative Leader, the first Nigerian- born politician with a potential to become the next Prime Minister if her Party were to win the next election
I am talking of Kemi Badenock who was lambasted few months ago for issuing a very insulting and condescending statement on Nigeria which she denounced or criticized as her home away from home.
I couldn’t help but wonder how King Charles who had once described Nigeria as the “Owambe” Country would have felt on seeing all of the gory pictures of the Crash on television?
What ought to be an 4 Lane Highway linking two of the Mega Cities and financial Capitals of Nigeria in the most progressive Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria the Southwest previously governed by Chief Obafemi Awolowo once described as the best President Nigeria never had by the Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu and also described by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson as a man who could easily have been elected Prime Minister in the UK, if he were born in Britain. If Obafemi Awolowo had been allowed to rule the country he would have done a much better job, given his track record in the old Western Region.
if what had happened within the first one hour of the Crash was the best that Nigeria could offer 65 years after Independence. those who describe Nigeria as a “failed “ State cannot be too wrong for coming to that conclusion.
The first announcement we heard from many of the mushroom Podcasts on YouTube in Nigeria who thrive on selling sensational stories and falsehood rather than facts, was that the Lexus SUV in which the Heavy Weight Boxing Champion was traveling had bursted a front tire on high speed.
That is a common occurrence in Nigeria.
What usually follows is a somersault of such a vehicle
How do I know that? I knew it because my eldest daughter had died more than 25 years ago in a similar accident on Akure/ Owo Express.
There was not a single Ambulance or a Police Vehicle or a towing vehicle to help rescue those passengers and to rush them to the nearest Hospital.
That was how I lost my daughter and two of her colleagues at the National Orientation Bureau in Akure.
They all bled to death in their vehicle .
The Good Samaritan who had rushed their lifeless bodies to the so- called Federal Medical Center at Owo were shocked to discover there was not a single Ambulance or any Emergency Doctor in the whole Hospital.
My heart went back to my daughter and her two colleagues as I watched the Crash on television and as passersby tried to rescue the world Boxing Champion from the wreckage.
I saw the Car and the abandoned vehicle on the Highway with the bodies of two of Joshua’s companions lying on the ground.
If you visit Nigeria you can see many abandoned broken down 22 wheeler trucks lying on the Highways and many of them causing serious accidents later on.
Nigerians have lost count of how many Nigerians have lost their lives in some of the Aliko Dangote trailers plying the death trap that the Nigerian Highways have become.
It is as if we don’t have a Government in Nigeria .
David Umahi the current Minister of Works and the Road Safety Authorities in Nigeria are assigned trillions of Dollars to look after all of those Highways but what do we get in return?
Your guess is as good as mine.
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You cannot commute on many of the Nigerian Highways after 7 pm for fear of terrorists and kidnappers abd armed robbers who operate on those Highways and carry out daylight robberies or commit other crimes under cover of darkness.
Antony Joshua would be lucky if the emotional trauma from the accident does not end his Boxing career.
The whole country including the President and the two Governors of Lagos and Ogun States had rushed to the scene of the accident to sympathize with the Boxing Champion and his family members.
The Crash was a national embarrassment and a euphemism for some of the things wrong with Nigeria and how the devolution of power to the States and the Creation of State Police might help to solve some of the problems of insecurity Nigeria faces today
Our hearts go out to Anthony Joshua and his family and the families of his dead escorts or companions as the Boxing Champion is rushed back to London for a more thorough examination and treatment.
Dr. Wumi Akintide.
