by crossriverwatch admin
A newly married couple, Francis Edeh and Ann, along with two others died in a car crash over the weekend along the Ugep -Abakaliki Road.
Francis and Ann, both from Ebonyi State and resident in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, were heading to Abakaliki to thank family members who attended their wedding the previous week, Saturday 7th of September in Calabar but when they got to Amudo village, some thirty kilometers to Abakiliki, their vehicle developed an electrical fault prompting them to seek the services of an auto electrician.
“The man came to my shop at about 4p.m. and said his car had stopped and that he had tried to start it but it did not start and he suspects an electrical fault so I went with him on the okada”. Omaka, an electrician at Amudo village told CrossRiverWatch.
He said he did his best to repair the Camry car but he could not and so he sought the assistance of Luke, another
electrician in the neighboring town, Onueke, and when he came there was trouble between him and Ann.
“Luke took a motorcycle from Onueke to Amudo but when he got here he told the man to pay the okada man but his wife started shouting that why should her husband pay for the transport fare when he had not even touched the car”.
According to Omaka, an argument ensued between Ann and the electrician and that soured the atmosphere however, Luke still went on with the work. “The electrician still wanted to repair the car but when he opened the bonnet, I think he saw something and then changed his mind and told the man that he should allow the car until Monday that even if he goes on to repair the car, it still would not start”.
This worsened the situation as Ann became angrier causing the electrician to hurriedly leave the place and since there was nothing else they could do as nightfall was rapidly approaching the couple had to leave for Abakaliki with a commercial vehicle.
“They refused to take to the advice of Luke that they should allow the car till Monday so the next day which was Sunday, they decided to come back with Ortuh, another electrician in Abakalilki and chartered a vehicle to take them to Amudo but along the way, one of the tires of the car exploded and collided head on with a tanker and all the four of them died”.
A cab driver, Ogbada told CrossRiverWatch that the driver that died that Sunday morning used to be a tipper driver before but recently bought an Audi car with registration number, Akwa Ibom, AG 727, KST with the money he got from driving the tipper. “
I was the one that the man contacted first but I did not want to go so I gave it to the tipper driver The man (driver) was drunk that morning and so he collected just N1,500 from the man even when we asks him to collect the complete sum for five passengers which is 1,800 since the transport fare from Abakaliki to Amudo is 300 naira and his car carries five persons”.
Luke the electrician at Onueke said Ann was unnecessarily quarrelsome. “I told them not to repair that car till Monday because my spirit told me something but the woman was angry and thought I wanted to punish them. Again why did the man have to take his wife again the next time to Amudo to repair the car, couldn’t she have stayed in Abakaliki while he gets back to Ortuh to repair the car?”.
The tanker is still parked at the Onueke Police station while the bodies of the electrician and the driver were taken to their villages for burial and the man and his wife are in the mortuary of the Onueke General Hospital mortuary.
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