The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd), narrowly escaped death on Sunday when a boat in his convoy lost control and crash into the surrounding mangrove forest, killing a soldier in his security team instantly.
Two other soldiers sustained serious injuries along with the driver of the boat.
The accident happened along the Ogbia-Nembe waterways while the deputy governor was on his way to his country home in Nembe on a private visit.
The boat driver was said to have lost control of the vessel, veered off the water and crashed into the mangroves at about 8 a.m.
A source told us that: “The boat ran into the mangrove forest. About three of the soldiers were injured but the injuries of one of them were serious.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the deputy governor on Media, Mr. Ebi Evinson, neither answered his telephone calls nor replied text messages.
But the Media Coordinator, JTF, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, confirmed the accident but denied that the soldiers were attached to the deputy governor.
He insisted that nobody died from the accident, even as he said the injured were being treated in an undisclosed hospital.
“No soldier is attached to the convoy of the deputy governor. The soldiers were only behind the convoy when the boat veered off the water and ran into the mangroves. Only two soldiers sustained minor injuries. Nobody died,” he said.