By OGBOBI GODSPOWER
Some officials of the Kogi State Traffic Management Authority (KOTROMA), recently escaped being lynched by a mob after a road accident occurred around the Zenith Bank Junction area of the state capital.
The officials were alleged to have caused the accident while attempting to check an approaching vehicle.
According to an eyewitness, the incident, which happened at about 10.30 am on fateful day precisely close to the popular Zenith Bank junction, in Lokoja, involved a commercial motorcyclists and a Honda SUV vehicle.
It was gathered that personnel of the state traffic management agency while on routine check, tried to halt a fast approaching Honda SUV driver.
One of the KOTROMA personnel it was further learnt instantaneously tried to halt the fast approaching black SUV Honda vehicle with a private registration number plate; an action that forced the SUV to stop instantly.
The action forced the commercial motorcyclist who was following the SUV to crash into the vehicle injurying the rider and his passenger.
The juvenile girl who was riding on the commercial motorcycle sustained a serious injury on the right leg. The wound was so severe that it cracked the bone leaving her in a pool of blood and intense pain.
Sensing the magnitude of their action, the traffic management personnel disappeared into the crowd, leaving behind one of their official.
The irate mob that gathered at the scene made up of other road users and some business owners along the route, soon descended on the KOTROMA official.
The officer was dragged and beaten with about four persons hitting him from the front and back while another held him by the shirt
It took the intervention of other passers-by to halt the assault on the KOTROMA officer who already has sustained bloody cuts on his face. They people then requested that the KOTROMA officer be taken to the nearest police station.
The severely wounded juvenile girl and the motorcyclist who lucky sustained no serious injury were later taken to the Specialist Hospital.
Security authorities have consistently warned against jungle justice, urging the public to allow law enforcement agents to handle offenders according to the law.
