Hoodlums burn Nasarawa lawmaker’s new vehicle

Agyomesa’s new Toyota Venza, with registration number AA170ABB, was set ablaze by hoodlums at Wulko, a village at Akwanga, along Lafia-Akwanga Road, after he towed it there on April 14.   The vehicle had had an accident with a motorcyclist conveying a passenger along the road, near Wulko. The car’s tyres burst, compelling the lawmaker […]

Agyomesa’s new Toyota Venza, with registration number AA170ABB, was set ablaze by hoodlums at Wulko, a village at Akwanga, along Lafia-Akwanga Road, after he towed it there on April 14.

 

The vehicle had had an accident with a motorcyclist conveying a passenger along the road, near Wulko. The car’s tyres burst, compelling the lawmaker to seek help to tow it to the nearby police post at Wulko, after arranging a vehicle to convey the accident victims to the hospital in Akwanga.

“But we were told later that the two persons on the motorcycle died later”, he told Sunday Trust, on phone, adding that “that is my saddest feeling about the whole incident. My heart has continued to bleed from that day over the death of the two boys. I feel so bad.”

But youths from the village mobilized and stormed the police outpost, where they set Agyomesa’s car ablaze. “You can see that it was not only my vehicle that the boys burnt. Some other vehicles parked at the police station were affected too. And that, again, makes me feel so bad that because of my vehicle, other people’s vehicles were affected.”

He said the youths who burnt the vehicles had wanted to cause trouble both at the scene of the accident, and the police post, but had been prevailed upon by elders of the village, who had also asked him to leave the village at that point. “I left my driver behind, only to be told later that the boys returned and burnt the vehicle, injuring my driver in the incident.”

When Sunday Trust visited the police post, our correspondent observed that the charred remains of Agyomesa’s new vehicle were lying in the midst of other burnt vehicles, there. The policemen on duty were aggressive, and refused to speak to the reporter.

The first batch of new vehicles for the 24 members of House arrived in Lafia in February, after the firm given the contract made a delivery in the night. The firm delivered three Toyota Prado Jeeps, and made the delivery of 27 more for members including Agyomesa, their committees and the clerk of the House, Mr. Ego Mai Keffi Abashi, later in March and April.

Thirty new vehicles were contracted for delivery after members had the payment of about N315 million vehicle allowances from the state government in January this year. The assembly had also, earlier in December, 2011, received payment of about N113 million as Foreign Trips Allowances.