DEAD
FEMALE FOOTBALLERS: COURT ADJOURNS CASE TO JANUARY 2018
By
Emmanuel Atabat
01
December, 2017
Justice Yakubu Dakwak of the Jos High
Court 1 has adjourned to January 31, 2018 for definite hearing in the suit
between Kenneth Eze and Others (plaintiffs) and the Jos North Local Government
Council, Ngo Talatu Jang (defendants).
The plaintiffs are the parents of the
former Rock City Queens, a Jos-based female football team who died in a ghastly
accident on the Dorowa-Barkin Ladi road in December 2008.
The team was contracted by the
authority of Jos North Local government to represent it in the then First Lady
Female Football Cup competition among the 17 local government areas in the
state that year.
From the information received, the Jos
North Local Government squad left Jos
in the morning of December 21, 2008 to Shendam, venue of the competition. However,
on their homeward journey that evening, tragedy struck as the Peugeot J5 bus in
which they were travelling ran into an on-coming Golf car and burst into
flames.
Of the six occupants of the Gulf car,
only one survived and of the 18 passengers in the J5 bus conveying the players,
12 were roasted to ashes, including the youngest player of the team,
12-year-old Naomi John, the coach of the team and his aide.
Others who lost their lives in the
accident were: Augustina Kenneth, Catherine Okpoko, Happiness Primus, Mary
Shom, Comfort Agwu, Vicky Joseph, Angela Otuka, Mercy Uwandu, Jummai Ishaku,
Khalid Yaro and Chief Coach Ganiyu.
The Governor of the state at that
time, Jonah David Jang; the First Lady, Ngo Talatu Jang (on whose behalf the
competition was organized); and the then Chairman of Jos North Local Government
all made mouth-watering promises at the mass burial of the victims.
Of significance was the directive by
Jang that parents of the deceased should see him at Government House, but that
was the end of the story. Neither the governor, his spouse nor the then local
government chairman made good their promises.
All efforts by the parents of the dead
girls to see these officials while they occupied office became the proverbial
“camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle”.
Embittered, the plaintiffs filed the
suit seeking N200 million compensation but an out-of-court settlement was
initiated by the Jos North Local Government. However, the terms of settlement
were drafted without the involvement of the plaintiffs as confirmed by the
Director of Public Prosecution (Department of Civil Litigation) in the Plateau
State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. F. B. Lotben, a development Justice Dakwak
expressed dissatisfaction with. He therefore called for a review of the
strategy to involve the plaintiffs.
Counsel to the plaintiffs, Barrister
Armstrong Ekone expressed displeasure over the development, adding that the
defendants were not committed to an out-of-court settlement, otherwise it would
have been concluded long ago.
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| Former Rock City Queens |
He said that the 2nd
defendant, former First Lady Ngo Talatu Jang, was not serious and had even
declared her lack of interest in the matter. Armstrong further expressed
dissatisfaction with the inability of the court to hear the case on that day
adding that “after painstakingly assembling all his witnesses for the first
time, proceedings were again scuttled” He continued,.
“this matter is the only one
slated for hearing today because the court wants us to make progress. This case
has been on since 2013 and no hearing has commenced in earnest. Today’s
adjournment is at their own instance because according to them, they want to
put their house in order.”
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