A hit-and-run driver last Sunday crushed a commercial tricycle, popularly called keke, along Douglas Road, Owerri, Imo State, killing instantly its rider identified as 27-year-old Ifeanyi Dike Nwaulu.
The deceased keke rider was killed at about 7:30am, when an Audi car painted ash and later identified to belong to one Nze John living in Old Road, Nekede, Owerri West Local Government Area, hit his tricycle as he was about to ride across to Douglas Road from the road leading to the Imo Amusement Park.
Nwaulu, a father of two little girls, was on his lane and was trying to pull up by the roadside, when he suddenly saw that the car had got so close to him, and unable to dodge the fast-moving vehicle, it rammed into his keke and killed him on the spot.
Another person riding with him in the commercial tricycle was also seriously injured.
Immediately the accident occurred, a mob, including other commercial tricycle operators, descended on the driver of the Audi car and beat him mercilessly.
My husband was a businessman selling boxer shorts and singlets as well as phone accessories along Douglas Road here in Owerri before he decided to go into the business of commercial tricycle riding
The remains of the late commercial tricycle rider were later deposited in a mortuary in Obosima in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of the state.
The wife of the late Nwaulu, who is currently nursing one of the couple’s babies, described the death of her husband as untimely and unbelievable.
She said that she and her entire family were still in “deep shock” over the sudden demise of their sole breadwinner.
Mrs. Nwaulu, however, appealed to the appropriate authorities to ensure that the killer of her husband did not go scotfree.
“My husband was a businessman selling boxer shorts and singlets as well as phone accessories along Douglas Road here in Owerri before he decided to go into the business of commercial tricycle riding, when things became hard due to the economic recession in the country. But now he’s gone, what do we do now?” she said.
The aged father of the deceased, too, who has been in shock since his son’s death, has also been weeping profusely, bemoaning the tragedy that has befallen him at his old age.
“I have lost a son that is irreplaceable. This is an irreparable loss to me and our family. Why should this happen to me at my old age? I believe God knows best,” he said.
The driver of the Audi car, which killed Nwaulu, has been arrested and detained by the police in Imo State.
