For residents of Kumo in Akko Local Government Area and Gombe metropolis, the six days between Thursday, October 22, and Tuesday, October 27, 2026, will remain a painful memory. Two road crashes claimed innocent lives and left families mourning.
In Kumo, 11 people who had gone out to earn a living on Thursday, the town’s market day, never returned home. A truck reportedly suffered brake failure and ran over them, killing them and injuring others.
Another tragedy followed in Gombe, where five schoolchildren from the same family died on their way to school. They had left home early that morning but neither reached their classrooms nor returned to their parents.
Their father, Mansur Muhammad, never imagined that his children’s cheerful farewell on Tuesday morning would be their last moments together. Less than 40 minutes after they left for school, he received a call from an unknown number informing him that they had been involved in a crash and asking him to come to the hospital.
When he arrived at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, he found two of his children alive. The whereabouts of the other five were initially unclear to him. He later learnt that they had died.
The children were involved in a crash in which a water tanker rammed into a commercial tricycle conveying schoolchildren near Kanady Academy, along APC Square in the Government Reserved Area of Gombe metropolis. The deceased were identified as Maryam Mansir Adamu and Usman Mansir Adamu, both Primary Five pupils of Jekadafari Primary School; Hauwau Mansir Adamu of Government Junior Secondary School, Jekadafari; Aliyu Mansir Adamu of Government Day Secondary School, Ahmadu Gombe; and Fatima Mansir Adamu, whose school was not specified. Three other children were injured and taken to hospital.
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👉 JOIN GISTSMATE WHATSAPP CHANNELRecounting the tragedy to journalists, Muhammad said the children had been playing with him before leaving for school, repeatedly returning to announce their departure while he wished them success. “That morning, the children left home in good health. Not up to 40 minutes after they left, I received a call asking me to come to the emergency unit of the federal teaching hospital. They told me my children had been involved in an accident. One of my children had given them my telephone number. When I arrived at the hospital, I saw two of my children, but I could not find the others,” he said.
Visibly shaken, Muhammad said he asked about the remaining children but received no clear answer until the tricycle rider told him they had been taken to the Specialist Hospital, Gombe. On arriving there, he was directed to the mortuary, where he found the bodies of his five children laid out in a row.
“When I entered the mortuary, I found the bodies of my five children laid out in a row. That was when I realised they were all dead,” he said.
The grieving father said what pained him most was remembering their final moments together, particularly his son’s farewell and expression of gratitude before leaving for school.
According to him, the children approached him three times that morning to announce their departure, and each time he wished them success. He recalled that Usman had complained that he did not have a biro, prompting him to give the boy money to buy a cheaper one because he frequently misplaced his pens.
“They kept playing with me before leaving for school. They would leave and return to tell me, ‘Abba, we are going to school,’ and I would reply, ‘May Allah grant you success.’ They did that three times. The last time, Usman came to tell me he did not have a biro. I told him, ‘You are always losing your pens, so I will no longer buy you expensive ones. Here is some money; go and buy a cheaper one.’ He collected the money and said, ‘Abba, thank you.’ That was how we parted. I did not know I would never see him again,” he said.
Muhammad said news of the crash nearly left him unable to breathe, particularly as he was already suffering from a fever. His younger wife, the mother of three of the deceased children, had called the tricycle rider to take them to school because he was too unwell to do so himself.
“I was not feeling well that morning; I had a fever. It was my junior wife who called the tricycle rider to come and take the children to school. When I received the call that my children had been involved in an accident, I felt as though my breath was leaving me. But when I saw that two of them were still alive at the hospital, my attention shifted to them,” he said.
He added that he was the only family member allowed to see the children’s bodies at the hospital, as his wives were not permitted to view them because of their emotional condition.
Muhammad said he had 12 children with his two wives before the tragedy and now had seven. He was trying to find the strength to endure the loss, acknowledging that his children were gifts from God.
“Even though I feel deep pain in my heart, I pray that Allah will help me endure this trial. Allah gave them to me, and He has taken them back,” he said.
The bereaved father also spoke about the severity of the children’s injuries, saying the most serious were to their heads.
Umar Mansur, one of the survivors and a Senior Secondary School One student, said they were travelling to school in the commercial tricycle when it fell and the water tanker ran over them. He sustained a leg injury, while five of his siblings died.
The Gombe State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) confirmed the crash through its Sector Commander, Samson Kaura. He said personnel arrived at the scene after the initial rescue operation had been completed.
Kaura said FRSC officials subsequently visited the hospital to establish the number of casualties.
A source at the Specialist Hospital, Gombe, said the injured victims and the drivers involved were taken to the Federal Teaching Hospital for treatment, while the bodies of the five children were deposited in the mortuary.
Meanwhile, Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, described the deaths as heartbreaking, saying the loss of five children from one family was a devastating blow to their parents, relatives, schools and the entire state.
In a statement issued by his Director-General of Press Affairs, Ismaila Uba Misilli, the governor said the children died at an age when they should have been pursuing their education and looking forward to a promising future.
He expressed condolences to the bereaved family and the Jekadafari community, describing the deaths as an irreparable loss.
The governor prayed for the speedy recovery of the three injured children and urged motorists to exercise caution, obey traffic regulations, maintain safe speeds and ensure their vehicles were roadworthy. He warned that reckless driving endangered innocent lives.
Yahaya also called for greater vigilance when transporting schoolchildren and other vulnerable passengers, stressing that road safety must remain a priority.
He prayed that Almighty Allah would grant the deceased children Aljannatul Firdaus and give their parents and relatives the strength to bear the loss.
When our correspondent visited the family’s residence in Jekadafari, Gombe, the entrance was crowded with relatives, friends and other sympathisers offering condolences. Efforts to speak with the children’s mothers were unsuccessful, as they were too traumatised to speak at length.
The deaths have plunged the family and the neighbourhood into mourning, with relatives and sympathisers continuing to visit the home to console the bereaved.
Reacting to the crashes, activist Shuaibu Gara Gombe said the state had failed to find a lasting solution to fatal truck crashes. He recalled an incident in 1975 in which, according to him, a trailer crushed seven people to death at Gombe Roundabout, near the former Gombe Line park.
He said successive administrations in the former Bauchi State and present-day Gombe State had attempted to address the problem without sustained success.
He listed administrations led by Tatari Ali, Dahiru Mohammed Deba, Orji, Mohammed Bawa, Abubakar Habu Hashidu, Mohammed Danjuma Goje, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo and Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya.
According to him, most interventions focused on vehicles entering Gombe, particularly trailers, while enforcement remained a challenge. He argued that constructing barriers alone had not solved the problem.
Gara Gombe said water tankers operating within the city also posed a serious danger. He attributed their proliferation to inadequate public water supply and said repeated fatal crashes involving the vehicles had earned them the nickname “Maitatsine”, a reference to the violence associated with the religious movement in Kano and other parts of northern Nigeria.
He called for collective action to find a lasting solution, saying governance was suffering while politicians concentrated on winning elections.
He urged the state House of Assembly to hold an immediate public hearing on a proposed law regulating vehicle movement and use. The law, he suggested, should provide for vehicle testing centres established through public-private partnerships across the state, including major entry points from neighbouring states.
Under his proposal, vehicles with six or more tyres operating within Gombe, particularly water tankers, would undergo monthly roadworthiness tests, while those with four or fewer tyres would be tested quarterly. Trailers entering Gombe would be required to undergo testing at designated centres at the state’s entry points before proceeding into the city.
He said the initiative could improve safety and security, create jobs and generate revenue. “A roadworthiness certificate is a necessity. We cannot afford to see people being killed like mosquitoes,” he said, alleging that many of the tankers had defective brakes and urging the authorities to act before more families suffered similar losses.
Gara Gombe prayed for the repose of the schoolchildren and others killed in the Kumo and Gombe crashes.
Source: Tribune Online
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