Six persons have been confirmed dead, while 14 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a ghastly motor accident that occurred along the Nkalagu axis of the Abakaliki–Enugu Expressway on Saturday morning.

The tragic incident happened near the Nkalagu Flyover Bridge at about 9:30 am, throwing the busy highway into confusion as emergency responders raced to the scene.

Confirming the accident, the State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Mr. Henry Igwe, revealed that 22 people were involved in the crash. He attributed the accident to dangerous overtaking involving a commercial Toyota bus and a truck.

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Igwe explained that some of the injured victims were immediately evacuated to a hospital in Enugu by FRSC personnel and Red Cross officials, while others were taken to the General Hospital, Ezzamgbo, Ebonyi State, for urgent medical treatment.

The FRSC official also urged motorists to exercise caution and avoid dangerous driving, especially during peak travel periods, to prevent further loss of lives on the highways.

At least sixteen senior military officers have been detained by the Armed Forces of Nigeria for allegedly planning a coup d’etat to overthrow President Bola Tinubu, top sources have told SaharaReporters.

A coup d’état is an overt attempt by a military organisation or other government elites to unseat an incumbent person or leadership.

While the Nigerian military in a statement few days ago claimed the detention of the officers was linked to “repeated failure in promotion examinations and perceived career stagnation”, top sources revealed that they were actually arrested over a coup plot.

“The Armed Forces of Nigeria wishes to inform the public that a routine military exercise has resulted in the arrest of sixteen officers over issues of indiscipline and breach of service regulations,” the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau had said in an ambiguous statement.

“Investigations have revealed that their grievances stemmed largely from perceived career stagnation caused by repeated failure in promotion examinations, among other issues.

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“Some of the apprehended officers had been under jurisdiction for various offences, either awaiting or undergoing trial. Their conduct was deemed incompatible with the standards of military service.”

However, a senior official of the Defence Intelligence Agency involved in the arrest told SaharaReporters that the officers led by an Army Brigadier General were planning to stage a coup and take over government from “selfish politicians”.

He said the coup attempt was thwarted after an intelligence gathering by the DIA and sister agencies.

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“The 16 officers were planning a coup. The military authorities were just being diplomatic in the statement released by the spokesperson. They have started doing secret meetings on how to overthrow the President and other top government officials,” the source told SaharaReporters.

“They’re all officers within the rank of Captain to Brigadier-General and are still in detention at DIA as we talk. They were picked recently at their various houses around the country. Their main objective was to overthrow President Tinubu and announce a military government.”

Another source added that the October 1 Independence Day parade was cancelled because of the coup attempt.

He said, “Yes, they were arrested for planning to stage a coup and take over government. That was the main reason why the Independence Day parade scheduled to hold on Wednesday, October 1 as part of activities marking the country’s 65th Independence Anniversary was cancelled.

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“This was because intelligence reports showed they planned the coup on October 1st during a military parade. So the National Security Adviser and other service chiefs asked the Tinubu-led government to cancel the parade earlier scheduled to mark the day.

“Their plan was to shoot at the President and other top politicians during the event. The move by the military authorities announcing their arrests was to douse tension.”

Since Nigeria became independent in 1960, there have been five successful military coups.

Recently, there have been allegations of corruption in the military which some of the officers and soldiers have blamed for their loss of interest in the country’s military.

The civil society community in Nigeria has taken a swap on the presidency over what it regarded as “insensitive, offensive, sordid and misleading” picture painted by the presidency over the murdered Ogoni 9, and the recent “pardon” granted to them and others by President Bola Tinubu.

Recall that Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Mr Bayo Onanuga, while publicly announcing the justifications for the pardons and clemency, said: “Illegal miners, white-collar convicts, remorseful drug offenders, foreigners, Major General Mamman Vatsa, Major Akubo, Professor Magaji Garba, capital offenders such as Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro Wiwa, and the other Ogoni Eight were among the 175 convicts and former convicts who received President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mercy on Thursday.”

Onanuga further said in the statement: “Also referred to 4 Ogoni leaders who were unfortunately murdered by a mob in 1995, and whose murder the Ogoni 9 were framed for, as ‘victims of the Ogoni 9.”

But a statement issued by Health of Mother Earth Foundation and 13 other civil society organisations, reads: “The statement by the Presidential Adviser is laced with insinuations and references that have no bearing on history, reality and globally acceptable facts about the occurrences that led to the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and his fellow rights activists on November 10, 1995.”

READ ALSO: Tinubu Grants Presidential Pardon To Herbert Macaulay, 174 Others

The civil society groups described it as “unacceptable that despite overwhelming evidence of the miscarriage of justice against the Ogoni 9, which resulted in their hurried execution, the Nigerian state still considers them guilty and deserving of a pardon.”

The environment-based activist groups, who said the Presidency acknowledged the fact that Sir Herbert Macaulay was unjustly treated by the colonialists, wondered why the same Presidency failed to acknowledge the fact that Ken Saro Wiwa and the other ogonis were unjustly murdered by the military government.

The statement reads: “In the said statement, no mention was made of the abuse of the judicial process nor of the fact that the constitutional right to appeal was not extended to the 9.

“It is particularly interesting to note that in reference to Sir Herbert Macaulay, whom the President considers to have been unjustly treated by the colonialists, the statement had the following additional statement: ‘President Tinubu also corrected the historic injustice committed by British colonialists against Sir Herbert Macaulay, one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists.’ One wonders why the same clarification was not provided for the Ogoni 9.”

READ ALSO:FULL LIST: 175 Beneficiaries Of Tinubu’s Pardons

The CSOs, who said “what we continue to demand is the complete exoneration of Ken Saro-
Wiwa and his eight comrades,” expressed worries that the “half-hearted pardon extended by the President may be a strategic ploy to resume the extraction of crude oil in Ogoniland, a move that has so far been condemned and resisted by all well-meaning Nigerians.”

They stressed that “the reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa and his comrades by the Presidency is insensitive and offensive to their memory and that of other victims of environmental injustice.”

They, therefore, called
on President Bola Tinubu to “immediately withdraw the ‘pardon’ to Ken Saro Wiwa and his colleagues, and replace it with an unequivocal apology and condemnation of the faulty judicial process that resulted in their murder, followed by a gazette pronouncement quashing their murder conviction.”

According to them “Ken Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, and Barinem Kiobel were exemplary leaders of the Ogoni nation who responded peacefully to the plight of their people and the destruction of their environment. Their commitment to right historical wrongs against their people and the environment should be recognised and commended.”