The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has been thrown into mourning as it lost three officers to a fatal road crash near Kura town along Kano-Zaria Expressway on Sunday morning.
The tragedy, which claimed the lives of two NIS musical band members and another from the Public Relations Unit of the Service, struck after a tyre of a official NISSAN bus in which they were travelling back to Abuja from Kano State bursted on the highway, leading to the fatal crash.
Already, the Service said via a post on its verified handle on X, formerly Twitter, Nigeria Immigration Service@nigimmigration: “Our candles go up while our hearts are heavy.”
Sources confirmed that the deceased officers, who were travelling in an 18-passenger Nissan bus Immigration HQ, 1001S, were part of the entourage of the Acting Comptroller General of Immigration, Mrs Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju, to Kano State for the Presidential Commissioning and Passing Out Parade (POP) of the 48th Superintendent Basic Course 2023 at the Immigration Training School in Kano, (ITSK).
The event was held on Saturday and they died on their way back to Abuja.
The source stated: “Only three persons have so far been confirmed dead. Others who sustained various degrees of injuries were rushed to the hospital for treatment and are said to be battling for their lives. Today is indeed a Black Sunday for us at the Immigration Service.”
The bodies of those that lost their lives and those critically injured were taken to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano.
The scene on Sunday morning was too emotional and depressing as scores of sympathisers, spouses and children of officers who travelled with the Acting CGI besieged the NIS national headquarters along the Airport Road Abuja, wailing uncontrollably as they desperately awaited official declaration from the Service after watching a viral video of the accident scene.
