On ‘kill and go’ governors and VIPs

The fear of siren blaring convoys, bearing governors and supposedly important sundry people as well as cargo around Abuja, may well remain the beginning of wisdom for other vehicle drivers in the city. While many would have thought that the recent efforts by the President Muhamadu Buhari to curb the growing freedom of guile and […]

The fear of siren blaring convoys, bearing governors and supposedly important sundry people as well as cargo around Abuja, may well remain the beginning of wisdom for other vehicle drivers in the city. While many would have thought that the recent efforts by the President Muhamadu Buhari to curb the growing freedom of guile and impunity among the powered class in the society, it would seem that his message is yet to hit home among some unchangeable elements in our midst.
At least the recent incident in which the official convoy of the Governor of Ebonyi State David Umahi, caused the death of Mr Mukaila Inakakana right in the Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, through culpable dangerous driving, will remain another reference point for crass display of impunity by some elements among the high and mighty, for some time to come. It will remain to provide society with yet another chapter in the tapestry of the out of control ‘kill and go’ mentality of some of our leaders, and which is infecting even their subordinates and handlers. We are referring to a ‘like master like servant’ scenario!
Just last week Mr. Inakakana joined the growing list of innocent citizens that met their untimely death at the hands of the convoy drivers to the governors as well as other VIPs. As he was driving on an Abuja bridge, he saw the convoy of the Governor of Ebonyi State hurtling down in a devil may care manner. Spurred by the desire to save his soul and avoid a collision with the convoy the now deceased gentleman swerved his car and in the tight space provided on the bridge, he lost control and ended up with a fatal drop from the top of the bridge into a ditch below. The governor’s convoy continued on its way, without batting an eye lid. It took the intervention of sympathizers, who with the aid of a crane salvaged the injured driver and his car.
Painfully Inakakana eventually died at the National Hospital Abuja, and has since been buried. Today the family has lost a husband and father, who may not have had any premonition on that day, that his life would be cut short by kill and go goons, who parade as official convoy drivers to a state governor.
Ordinarily, given his apparently low estate in society, his case should have been closed as just another statistics in the daily carnage that has been the lot of our motorways. However his matter offers poignancy in many ways. Firstly is the fact that it involved the official convoy of a governor, under the brief of state officials who failed to demonstrate the required high sense of civility and decorum in their conduct in public as should be expected. The late Inakakana was not invisible on the highway and bridge on which the governor’s convoy passed so he must have sighted by the big man’ convoy. What they made of him and other road users around them contributed to the situation of his demise through their handiwork. And if this development can occur in the nation’s capital, it can be imagined how much god these drivers may be playing outside the glare of the critical public in the remote areas of the country.
A cardinal provision of the nation’s traffic code is that any driver on the road, should demonstrate reasonable consideration for other road users, to ensure safety for all. However, to most convoy drivers like the complement in Umahi’s team, consideration for other road users is seen only as a message for lesser mortals.
The foregoing is corroborated by the spirited response of the governor and his press secretary, Mr Emma Anya, which at its best earned for the governor a low point. According to them, the convoy was not in any way associated with the plight of the late Inakakana. However, now that the police through the Divisional Police Officer for Gwarinpa – Superintendent Hayatudeen Shafa have confirmed that the convoy was actually the prime cause of the accident, where do Governor Umahi and his team stand? Should he still remain on the high stool with his killer team and allow the deceased go unsung? At least even if he as governor was justifiably oblivious of the development, due maybe to a short nap that overcame him in the car, that alibi cannot be pleaded for his team, who were duty bound to remain alert to any contingency that could have cropped up on the way. After all should there have been assassins trailing his car, would they have ignored the threat? 
Taken in proper context, the response of the Press Secretary Emma Anya displayed a crass disdain for pathos, especially given the fact that he was expressing the official position of the Ebonyi State government. The minimum required of his office was to provide a soft landing for the governor, instead of celebrating the antics of a ‘power miss road’, callous government official.  At least he can do without the un-abashed abdication of responsibility for the death of the late victim.
In any case that is not surprising given the culture of impunity that often drives the personal and official conduct of some public officers who see their position even as temporary sojourners in the corridors of power, as opportunities to aggrandize themselves at the expense of whoever appears to be less privileged at the point in time. It is even most laughable how low income operatives around potentates often prove most callous to their fellow underprivileged fellow citizens. It is with such mindset that the Ebonyi State government spokesman – Emma Anya could have spoken. What a pity.   
The tale that connects Governor Umahi and the late Inakakana may be discounted by the officials of Ebonyi State government for now. Yet it hardly blunts some timely lessons for the wider society. One of these is the need to foster a new mindset among the rich and powerful whereby they will see the down-trodden in the country as fellow citizens.
In his effort to lead by example, President Muhamadu Buhari has trimmed the protocol associated with his official movements in Abuja to the barest minimum. It is therefore not out of place for other public officers to follow suit. A starting point is to redefine the protocol of VIP movements in Abuja, to avoid a repeat of Inakakana’s plight.
Meanwhile, Governor Umahi should play the humane leader by identifying with the plight of the victim which occurred through the acts of commission or omission of his aides. The police evidence points to that line of action.