Scores of
youths in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, rampaged through the town on Wednesday to
protest the death of six pupils in a fatal road accident.
The
deceased were pupils of Kingdom Heritage Nursery and Primary School, Eket.
Eyewitnesses
said the pupils, whose identities could not be ascertained, met their untimely
deaths when their school vehicle fell into a ditch on Eket-Ibeno Road, last
month.
They said
before the school driver lost control of the vehicle, he tried in vain to dodge
many bad spots on the road.
The
eyewitnesses said apart from those who died on the spot, other undisclosed
number of pupil’s sustained severe injuries and were rushed to a nearby
hospital.
It was
learnt that the deaths of the pupils sparked off Wednesday’s protest as youths
felt the pupils would have lived if the road were in good order.
One of the
protesters, who craved anonymity, said because of the dilapidation of the
Eket-Ibeno road, many road mishaps had taken place there.
He said
the road had paved the way for frequent cases of kidnapping, armed
robberies, as criminals usually capitalised on the bad road to waylay innocent
road users and residents.
He said
due to the situation of the road, youths in the area had given the relevant
authorities several ultimatums to rehabilitate the road.
He said
unfortunately, their appeals and threats to the authorities and major
stakeholders had always been ignored.
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