Malam Jauro Aisami sat on a mat under a tree in Zangomari village of Akko Local Government Area of Gombe State among his friends. Aisami was receiving condolences from sympathisers, having lost his younger brother.
The younger brother, Isubu Banki was a 55-year-old commercial vehicle driver, He died the previous day when his vehicle skidded the main road and crashed into a valley underneath a collapse bridge.
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North East Trust Correspondent, who visited Zangomari village, learnt that the deceased and three of his passengers crashed into the valley, leading to his death while the two other passengers sustained injuries.
Banki was one of the seven persons that have lost their lives to the damaged portion of the road around the Zangomari axis within the last few months.
Concerned over the frequent accidents, communities of Zangomari village, Jamji Akko and Jamji Kwami in Akko and Kwami local government area of Gombe State, appealed to government to repair the damaged road that linked the villages, and continue to claim lives of commuters in the area.
Members of the community conducted North East Trust round the villages, and the damaged portion of the road and the huge valley underneath the bridge, that is consuming lives of innocent people.
The Village Head of Zangomari, Alhaji Waziri Sale, lamented that whenever it rains, communities in the three neighbouring villages could not access their houses and had to sleep with friends and relatives in the nearby villages.
He said people of the affected communities had on several occasions appealed to relevant authorities, he, however, said they are yet to get a positive response from the state government.
According to him, previous administrations have made attempt to rehabilitate the road, appealing to Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya Administration to come to their rescue and salvage them from the situation.
North East Trust gathered within the last two weeks, that the collapsed bridge had claimed the lives of two commercial motorcyclists, who slipped into the valley while trying to pass over the bridge while it was raining.
A youth leader in the area, Malam Babangida Dan Achaba, decried the ugly situation and lamented that most of the victims are commercial motorcyclists and drivers of commercial vehicles.
Malam Babangida said the bad portion is just seven kilometres, but was neglected over the years by the previous administration, “a development that disconnected us from the other villages surrounding us.”
The three communities have the population of about 35,000 people and they are mostly farmers, who cultivate both food and cash crops, but find it difficult to transport them to markets in Gombe and other towns.
It was learnt that the community has through communal work created another pathway as an alternative route which is for now the only accessible road for entering their three conjoining villages.
However, despite their efforts, getting into the villages whenever it rains remains a herculean task for the people of Zangomari, Jamji Akko and Jamji Kwami villages.
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