Daniels Ekugo
The Family of a twenty-year-old victim of a fatal road accident at Ore seeks compensation
She came to visit her cousin, Augustine Akpan, at No 3 Hassan Oladele Street, Aboru in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos and was excited about returning to her siblings and parents. And on the fateful day, because she was in an upbeat mood, she even to cleaned up her cousin’s house, washed and cooked for the family before bidding them farewell, and proceeded to the Jibowu terminal of Deban Services, a transport firm that plies the Lagos to Port Harcourt route. She entered a Toyota Hiace with registration number AGL 253 DF (one of the vehicles in Deban Services’ fleet), made a quick call to her cousin just before departure time, and settled down in anticipation of the long trip home. But it ended up being her life’s last journey as she died in a fatal crash in Ore, Ondo State involving the bus she was travelling in. The late Ekaette Emmanuel was only 20 years old.
After the fatal crash and loss of their young daughter on 15 February 2015, Ekaette’s family is demanding for, at least, a sort of compensation. “Nobody had the premonition of what was going to happen because we saw Deban Services as a transport company with drivers not known to be careless or reckless, but I was shocked to receive a call later that my little sister has died in a fatal accident that occurred at Ore. I quickly went to Ore to confirm, and Ekaette was truly dead,” Akpan, Ekaette’s cousin told TheNEWS. He was later given a medical report from Glory Field Hospital at Ondo Road, Opposite Tunji and Tunji Petrol Station, Ore, by one Dr Campbell, the medical director on 2 February, 2015.
Afterwards, Akpan contacted Deban Services, the transport company owned by Dennis Banigo of 73 Bonny Street, Port Harcourt and he wad directed to the station manager of the company who, as he was told, would attend to him. Eventually, a certain Mr Ben, who represented the company, asked him to bring the necessary details, as he was ready to foot the bills for the transportation of the remains of the late Ekaette and her burial. Akpan ensured that the details got to him in a jiffy.
As it turned out, Mr Ben, who asked Akpan to rest assured that the bills will be taken care of, refused to pick his calls afterwards. The late Ekaette’s family members were left with no choice than to gather whatever they could, for her burial. “After the burial, we contacted Mr Ben again, who asked how much we had expended and I told him we had a bill of N200,500.00 (Two hundred Thousand and Five Hundred Naira). That was the last time we have seen nor heard from Mr Ben. The Police in Ore made efforts to towards getting him to fulfil his promises, but it was all to no avail,” Akpan, who admitted that the family has accepted the reality of the painful loss of Ekaette said. He added that her death has raised some issues about the value placed on the life of the Nigerian traveler by transport service operator. He alleged that till date, neither Deban Services nor the family of the driver who drove the car in which Ekaette was killed has deemed it necessary to condole with the family by any means. “Deban Services should help in ameliorating the pain we have been plunged into since the death of Ekaette,” Akpan insists.