by ‘Jola Sotubo

Two officials of the Edo State Traffic Management Agency have been arrested by the police after they allegedly caused the death of a man.

Godfrey Imobhio, the transport manager of a Benin-based company, lost his life after he was hit by a towing vehicle.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Foluso Adebanjo has confirmed the arrest.

Leadership reports: .

According the late Godfrey’s boss, Mr Donald Omorogbe, a truck conveying some goods to his warehouse developed fault at the Five Junction area of Benin and Godfrey, being the transport manager, was quickly called to the scene to handle the situation.

“Seeing that the truck was obstructing traffic at the spot where it broke down, Godfrey and some others invited traffic police and officials of EDSTMA to help control traffic while they offload the goods into another truck,” Omorogbe who is also the owner of the distribution company said.

He added that his workers had finished offloading the goods to another truck in the presence of the Divisional Traffic Officer (DTO) of the Textile Mills Police Station when the head of the EDSTMA at the Okhoro area of Benin, Mr Nosa Aideyan, came to the scene with a towing van.

He said while the police DTO, a woman, informed Aideyan that the situation was under control and that there was no need to tow the truck, Aideyan ordered one of his subordinates to reverse the towing van they brought to tow the truck and the towing vehicle hit the late Godfrey, who was standing at the back of the truck, while the police DTO managed to escape as she was standing next to the late Godfrey.

Omorogbe further stated that the late Godfrey was quickly taken to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, (about 5km to the scene of the incident), where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

When contacted, Head of Operations of EDSTMA, Mr Amadin Uwa, noted that one of their officers was involved in a scene that led to the death of one man, pointing out that the towing van that was brought to the scene was not theirs.

LEADERSHIP gathered that Mr Aideyan and the driver of the truck who killed Godfrey have been arrested and are now being detained at the Textile Mills police station in Benin.