Three cows were killed while a donkey is lying critically injured when a Toyota Hiace belonging to the fleet of the Bauchi State Government ran into herds of cattle crossing the Bauchi – Maiduguri highway in the early hours of Monday.
The herder, Lawali Alhaji Usman narrowly escaped death as he was also crossing the International Cattle Route near Daben Kasuwa in Ganjuwa LGA when the incident happened.
While narrating the accident to Journalists at the scene, the herdsman, Lawali Alhaji Usman, said that he was returning from Cameroon to Niger Republic for grazing his herd.
According to him, “We were crossing the Bauchi – Maiduguri highway when the vehicle hit my animals, l was lucky to have escaped”
Our Correspondent met the dead cows covered with leaves while the donkey was seen writhing in pain just as more herdsman were seen crossing their animals through the cattle route, created during the military regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, in their hundreds, forcing vehicles to match break and stop for them to cross.
Leader of the Daben Kasuwa Community, Abubakar Mohammed, who is known as the Ciroman Daben, called on the federal government to address the problem of the cattle route by erecting signposts and bumps or breakers.
Abubakar Mohammad also noted that the government must act immediately because the point has become prone to accidents every year whenever the herders are migrating with their cattle.
He also said that the accident happened because there was a deep steep on the other end of the road that makes animal crossing difficult, adding that, “It takes time for the cattle to jump to cross because of the deep steep. The government should fill it to prevent such accidents in the future”.
Abubakar Bello, another herdsman stressed that many accidents have happened on this road because of the deep steep by the shoulder of the road noting that he lost two sheep during a motor accident some years back.
The driver of the Bauchi State Government vehicle with registration number FST 52 DE, Alhaji Bala, while speaking with our correspondent, said he was the only one on the bus heading to Bauchi from Darazo when the accident occurred.
Alhaji Bala explained he was on his way when he suddenly encountered fog and the next thing he saw was a herd of cattle crossing the road highway.
He added that he matched brakes and was able to control the bus to reduce casualties but in the end, knocked down four animals.
Though he was not injured in the accident the brand new bus was seriously dented, with broken windows, a damaged radiator among other damages.
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