What turned out to be a devastating tragedy occurred in Calabar in the early hours of today.
An officer of the Nigerian Army who was identified as Lance Corporal Hassan Haruna was reportedly crushed to death in the Cross River State capital.
The victim was said to have died on the spot due to the impact from the accident as he also sustained serious head injuries.
The tragedy happened at the Ikot Ansa Bus Stop along Muritala Mohammed Highway in Calabar Municipality LGA.
The Army officer was reportedly struggling to overtake the truck owned by Flour Mills (Niger Mills) when the truck driver slammed into his vehicle, killing him there and then.
An eyewitness that spoke with the Vanguard news agency said, “The truck was coming from 8 miles and was on the speed lane.
“Immediately I saw the army man on a motorcycle speeding, I had a premonition that something bad will happen .
“It was like a dream, in a twinkle of an eye I heard a loud vehicular break sound and everyone started shouting and screaming Jesus!! Jesus!!.
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“Before we could look ahead, we saw the army officer lying dead in his uniform.
“At first, we were praying for him to be alive but those who tried to help him confirmed he was already death due to the impact from the truck, because his skull was badly affected .
“The truck driver ran away immediately he hit the soldiers but he was later arrested around Calabar-Calabar (RCC) round-about”.
However, the death of their colleague stirred anger amongst other army officers who took to the highway and started arresting truck drivers with Flour Mill trucks.
“Some soldiers came here after the incident and carried the dead body of the army man. They arrested one of the Flour Mills truck driver that was also coming into the town and took him away.
“They later came back with him and took him alongside his truck.
“Now, all trucks belonging to Flour Mills, when they heard about the incident, they started packing by the roadside.
“You can see about three trucks lining up the road already. No one wants to drive because of the fear of being arrested by the Army”, said another eye witness whom spoke to Vanguard.
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