Patience Jonathan,the First Lady has commiserated with the Bayelsa government over the death of some prominent Peoples Democratic Party, PDP women leaders in the state. The women leaders died on Saturday in an auto crash in Elele, Rivers State.
In a statement signed by Ayo Adewuyi, the First Lady’s Media Assistant, she prayed that the Almighty God grants the souls of the deceased eternal rest. “She also pray God to give the families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss,” the statement said.
Vincent Jack, the Bayelsa Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, explained that nine persons were burnt to death, two died without burns, while many others who sustained injuries were rushed to Madonna Clinic, a health facility in the area.
Jack said the accident occurred when the tyres of a Toyota Sienna bus suddenly exploded and rammed into the bus carrying the women. The bus, which had the inscription of Women For Change, an organisation sponsored by the First Lady, subsequently went up in flames.
Some of the victims, says Gbaregolo Eseimokumo, former councillor in Ogbia Local Government Area, include Consider Amadi, former women leader in Ogbia; Clara Abila,a grassroots politician; Immaculate Amasimua, former commissioner at the Civil Service Commission in Bayelsa; and Elisabeth Oguru, wife of the Secretary to the State Government.
Others are Zimbra Goma, former Commissioner for Women Affairs; Ruby Benjamin, former House of Assembly member representing Brass Constituency 1 in Bayelsa State House of Assembly amongst others.
A security official said all the women in the bus, but one, were killed. The survivor is receiving medical attention.
The women were said to have paid a two-day solidarity visit to the First Lady in Okrika, Rivers State and were on their way back when the accident occurred.
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