Nwamaka Maduchukwu dies in Mrs Ikpeazu’s convoy accident
Nwamaka Maduchukwu, a media aide to Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu was among the two women who died on Tuesday in an auto crash involving the motorcade of the wife of Abia Governor, Mrs Nkechi Ikpeazu.
The other woman was identified as Mrs Promise Uche-Nwamkpa, wife of a former member of the Abia State House of Assembly. Before her sad death, Maduchukwu was a senior special assistant on media to Mrs. Ikpeazu.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the accident occurred when the motorcade was returning to Umuahia from Ntigha-Uzor in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia, where Ikpeazu had attended a burial.
Witnesses said that the Hummer carrying the deceased somersaulted thrice, when the driver attempted to overtake a vehicle at Ndiolumbe around 5p.m.
A female occupant of the vehicle, who escaped unhurt, told NAN that the driver was on high speed when the accident occurred.
“The driver was on high speed and everybody in the vehicle was asking him to slow down. Suddenly the bus started jumping up and down before it started somersaulting,” she said.
She said that the vehicle somersaulted about three times and that she only found herself seated safely on a field by the road.
The middle-aged, fair-complexioned woman, who was wearing a dress designed for the burial, was full of praises to God, saying that “I escaped death by His grace.”
Nwamaka Maduchukwu and two of her children. Photo credit: Nwamaka on Facebook
The driver of the Hummer, Mr Bright Ugwubujor, blamed the accident on brake failure.
Narrating the incident to NAN at the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Ugwubujor said that the accident occurred when he attempted to overtake a vehicle ahead of him.
“When I tried to overtake the vehicle, I noticed an oncoming vehicle and attempted to retreat but I encountered a bump on the road and when I tried to apply the brake it could not work.
“Immediately, the vehicle began to somersault,” he said.
A medical doctor at the unit, where all the victims were brought for medical attention, confirmed to NAN the death of the two women.
He said that other occupants of the bus, including the driver sustained bruises and minor injuries.
He further said Mrs Promise Uche-Nwamkpa, was brought in dead to the hospital.
The second woman, Mrs Nwamaka Maduchukwu, gave up while doctors were battling to resuscitate her with the aid of an oxygen, he said
Maduchukwu was a widow and mother of four children.