A dispatch rider attached to the convoy of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has been killed after a petrol tanker rammed into the motorcade in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Akpabio disclosed the incident on Tuesday during plenary, announcing the death and extending condolences to the family of the deceased officer.
The dispatch rider, a police officer assigned to escort the Senate President, was part of the convoy that picked Akpabio up from the Ibadan Airport en route to Oyo State for the installation of a colleague.
Recounting the incident, Akpabio said the officer was run over by a tanker shortly after the convoy departed the airport.
“We went to Oyo State for the installation of our colleague, but the vehicles that came to pick me up at the Ibadan airport, unfortunately, my dispatch rider was run over by a tanker driver, and his head was shattered,” the Senate President told lawmakers.
He added that the officer had been buried about 15 minutes before the plenary session, describing the loss as painful and tragic.
“We just buried him 15 minutes ago in Kogi State. He left behind two wives and four children,” Akpabio said.
The Senate President appealed to heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to consider offering automatic employment to the children of the deceased officer, assuring that he would personally intervene if vacancies were unavailable.
“By the grace of God, I’m recommending two of his senior children for employment immediately in any parastatals that may wish to. Otherwise, I will employ them personally in any of my private concerns,” he said.
Following the disclosure, Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi West) rose on a motion of personal explanation to formally brief the Senate on the tragedy.
While sympathising with Akpabio, Karimi revealed that the deceased dispatch rider, identified as Hussaini, was a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) who was due to retire next year. He said the officer, an indigene of Kogi State, had served in the Senate President’s convoy since 2023, when Akpabio assumed office.
In the same motion, Karimi also informed the chamber of the death of another officer, Ibrahim Tukur, a driver attached to Senator Isah Jibrin (Kogi East), who reportedly died on Saturday after 25 years of service.
The senator conveyed condolences to the families of both deceased officers and to the Kogi State Government.
Thereafter, the Senate President directed senators to observe a one-minute silence in honour of the late dispatch rider and the deceased driver.
