ABUJA — The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, said yesterday, that the driver of late Minister of State for Labour, Mr. James Ocholi, would be prosecuted for over-speeding, following the ghastly road crash that claimed the lives of the minister, his wife and son last Sunday. The late minister, Chief James Ocholi (left) and wife He also stated that Ocholi’s driver had no drivers licence as his name was not found on the data base of FRSC.

Oyeyemi, who disclosed these while presenting the accident’s Road Traffic Crash Investigation Interim Report to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, recommended periodic retraining for convoy drivers, adding that late Ocholi and his family members were not on seat belt during the accident.

Overspeeding He said: “Information gathered revealed that the driver of the crashed vehicle was actually moving at excess of the stipulated speed when he had a tyre burst. “The crashed vehicle driver was driving too fast and he slammed on his brake so hard. These two factors materially contributed to the inability of the driver to maintain control when the left rear tyre burst.

“Skid marks and grooves found on the westbound shoulder made by the Lexus LX570 for about 15m and 9.3m respectively before it began somersaulting severely and the ejection of the minister and his son showed clearly that the travelling speed of the Lexus LX570 presented unsafe consequences in the event of certain road risk that may have occurred. “The driver must have entered into a panic situation which resulted in his hard application of brakes and subsequent loss of control that took him into the bush path. “The DOT number of the tyres were inward which cannot easily be read from outside. This indicates that the orientations of the tyres were not properly fixed which could adversely affect the performance of the tyres.

“The Federal Road Safety Corps Investigation Team (FIT) determines that the probable cause of the March 6, 2016, fatal crash at KM34 Kaduna-Abuja expressway near Rijana village, Kaduna State, was the driver’s failure to maintain directional control of his vehicle when the rear left tyre burst occurred.

“Severity of the fatality was increased due to the ejection of the minister and his son as a result of non use of rear seat belts. FRSC recommendations The corps recommended, among other things, for “the certification and re-certification of convoy drivers at intervals of two years of issuance of convoy driver’s licence. “President Buhari should lead the campaign on compliance with speed limits, starting with installation of speed limiting devises in commercial vehicles. “There was no record on the driver’s licence national data base of the driver of the minister with the name Taiwo James Elegbede.

“The ejection of the minister and his son, who occupied the rear seat, confirmed the fact that their rear seat belt were not in use and on the contrary, the driver and the orderly survived because the front seats belt were in use.” Tributes Yesterday’s FEC meeting opened with President Buhari formally announcing the death of the Army General that died in another auto crash in Maiduguri, Borno State, and asked for one minute silence to be observed in honour of the departed. Paying his tributes to late Ocholi, President Buhari extolled the virtue of humility which he said characterized the life of the late minister. He said: “I began to respect his hardwork and humility. When he attempted to be governor of his state, I campaigned for him almost throughout all the local governments but in the system we are running, one will always keep on trying. “He didn’t make it. And then the series of committees we are having, I recalled one particular, ACN, CPC, ANPP, I think APGA and DPP, he represented us and what impressed me about him is that he agreed to serve under a junior lawyer to him.

“That showed a lot of humility because I know of two professions — legal and military — they are very jealous about seniority. But he agreed to serve under a junior lawyer, him being a SAN. Even his contributions here, whether there are memos from his ministry or not, he made substantial contributions. May his soul rest in peace.”

He later signed the condolence register. Similarly, the tributes continued with select ministers representing the six geo-political zones making presentations. Employment, scholarship for children Briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, David Babachir, announced automatic employments for two of his children who were already graduates in any government ministry or agency of their choice.

There was also an announcement of automatic scholarship for the remaining two children still in school. He said the gesture was justified in the light of the fact that the children lost their breadwinner. “The President also directed that we find immediate employments for two of them who are graduates. The President has directed that the other two children of school age should be given scholarship up to the university,” he said.

Ocholi’s burial arrangements The SGF also announced that a 13-man expanded burial committee, which he is chairing, had been inaugurated. According to him, members of the committee were drawn from the government, Ochili’s family and his church. He stated that the late minister would be buried on March 18, saying, however, it was subject to amendments as there might be exigencies, adding that the burial would be a full affair of the Federal Government. Ocholi’s driver to be prosecuted Fielding questions from journalists on whether the driver of the accidented vehicle will be prosecuted for driving beyond the official speed limit, the SGF said it was most probably the case as there were still the existence of speed regulatory laws.

This was even as he asked anyone who had contrary view on what might have killed the minister outside auto accident to report to the police. “We will persecute the driver. Nigeria has laws. There is a speed limit in place. We will leave that until the final report of the Federal Road Safety Commission comes up. Anyone who feels it is not an accident is free to report to the police,” he said. FEC members later visited the family of the deceased to pay their respects.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/ocholis-driver-to-be-prosecuted-for-over-speeding-frsc/

Post mortem as always

That's unnecessary. For someone who narrowly 'cheated' death in less than a week ago.

Dem for arrest the corpse of the late minister and his family for not having their seat belt on.

Mstcheeeeeeew!

Noted

It's time to implement the speed limit device especially on government officials vehicles.
Pardon the driver pls.

Thought the driver passed on aswell

xreal:
That's unnecessary. For someone who narrowly 'cheated' death in less than a week ago.

Dem for arrest the corpse of the late minister and his family for not having their seat belt on.

Mstcheeeeeeew!

Cheated death? He must be prosecuted and jailed if he is still alive.We have to start doing the right thing in this country
prosecute him even if he is confirmed dead and chain his tomb if found guilty

Sue him and he will thrash you in the law court for "lack of evidence". How you wan prove overspeeding?

bettercreature:
Cheated death? He must be prosecuted and jailed if he is still alive.We have to start doing the right thing in this country

Arresting the driver(if he's alive) is actually wrong sir.

bettercreature:
Cheated death? He must be prosecuted and jailed if he is still alive.We have to start doing the right thing in this country

the driver is dead

last time i checked, the driver passed on too or are we talking about his ghost? or who are they suing? yeye dey smell.

DONSMITH123:
last time i checked, the driver passed on too or are we talking about his ghost? or who are they suing? yeye dey smell.

Who do you think has the authentic news about the driver..we(including you) that read about it in the news or FRSC that is on ground?

nedu2000:
the driver is dead

They still have to prosecute him and chain his tomb if he is found guilty,that is how it's done

There must be a scape goat.

And people must be seen as doing their jobs.

Road safety is not just the posting of men on the highways. As a matter of fact we need to develop beyond the posting of men on the road for road safety. Shouldn't the driver of a minister be properly profiled even by the security services?

He is not the only Nigerian without a valid drivers license. But daily they drive past these so called road safety officials who do the "needful" in collecting money and waving them on.

Unfortunately, most times than not we only learn after an event.

my brother forget FRSC. The did has already been done. They should focus on Ocholi's burial. Common sense should tell FG now that our Roads need total state of Emergency. those Road are death trap.

jarkbauer:


Who do you think has the authentic news about the driver..we(including you) that read about it in the news or FRSC that is on ground?

They will not go and Prosecute all Dis Dangote drivers killing Nigerians...becos na minister.... is it just Nigeria or what?

Who recruits drivers for govt officials?are these drivers specially trained?

Over speeding and not putting setbelt are two contradictory evidence.
Please stop this unserious move.

I dont know why I feel so bad about this man's death.
God grant his soul an eternal rest

I wonder oooh
Our leaders are just unless people becos the guy na politician
Now the know the driver dey over speed
Make dem first start with Dangote

OkoyeA1:
They will not go and Prosecute all Dis Dangote drivers killing Nigerians...becos na minister.... is it just Nigeria or what?

Hope Mr. Minister , his wife and son will also be prosecuted for not using their seat belt.

If actually the driver was over speeding, why was he not cautioned by the Minister (boss) and his family?. If I can caution a commercial bus/cab driver to reduce his speed, I see no reason why a boss (Minister) did not caution his driver to reduce his speed. He should be persecuted too. He should also be persecuted for employing a non licensed driver.

The laws should not be for the poor alone

Oh no! GEJ Why? Why? Why?

Can a driver speed without the oga's consent?

mtcheeewww

Sijo01:
Hope Mr. Senator, his wife and son will also be prosecuted for not using their seat belt.

If actually the driver was over speeding, why was he not cautioned by the senator (boss) and his family?. If I can caution a commercial bus/cab driver to reduce his speed, I see no reason why a boss (senator) did not caution his driver to reduce his speed. He should be persecuted too. He should also be persecuted for employing a non licensed driver.

The laws should not be for the poor alone

Maybe he and his family were already unconcious or even dead before being bundled in that car.
Honestly, something is fishy with that man's death. None of them could caution the driver and out of the cars in the convoys, it's only his car that had an accident. What about the car in front and behind even slight bashing or shattering of glasses would've suffice.?

What if it was the senator that asked him to speed up?

What kind of joke is this?

hmmmmm! Will that bring d dead back to life? Funny frsc.

What!!!!

Perhaps,the late minister and his wife and son should also be prosecuted for not wearing their seat belts
Rubbish!!!

Shoro niyen??

naija1stpikin:
Oh no! GEJ Why? Why? Why?

Common sense is not common........ Receive sense in Jesus name............

For crying out loud, why in the world didn't they use seat belts?
The driver and the guy in the passenger seat survived because they used seat belts. The minister and his son were ejected from the car because they didn't. What did they expect? That they'd stay glued to their seats in the event of an accident?
Rear seat belts are designed for the same reasons front seat belts are. And I don't understand why Nigerians typically don't use the rear seat belts. Don't you understand that you not only risk hurting yourselves, but also those seating in the front?

The FRSC shouldn't make this about overspeeding. People will always overspeed. Instead, the FRSC should make this about [size=38pt]"the use of seat belts"[/size]. Create a campaign to have people use seat belts, and don't just harass people who don't use the front seat belts, but also those who seat at the rear who don't use their seat belts.