Nigerian football club involved in ghastly accident on the way to honour NPFL fixture

One of the clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), Wikki Tourists, were involved in a road accident on Thursday.

The bus, which was carrying the players and officials of the Bauchi-based club to Uyo for their NPFL matchday 11 tie against Dakkada FC, caught fire at Hawan Kibo, Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State.

According to a witness account by one of the players in the bus, Damala Ezekiel, the bus lost two tyres before finally going up in flames.

This Happened this Morning at Hawan Kibo on Our Way to Akwa Ibom for our Match against Dakkada on Saturday. We lost 2 tyres b4 the Bus Eventually caught Fire.
Thank God for Delivering Us, no Life Was Lost, No One Was Injured. All Glory to God.@LMCNPFL @ShehuDikko @SonOfGrace33 pic.twitter.com/upkif6CkyB

— Damala Promise Ezekiel (@Damala33) February 18, 2021

He wrote on his Twitter handle @Damalla33: “This Happened this Morning at Hawan Kibo on our way to Akwa Ibom for our match against Dakkada on Saturday.

“We lost 2 tyres b4 the Bus eventually caught Fire.

“Thank God for Delivering Us, no Life Was Lost, No One Was Injured. All Glory to God.

While Wikki Tourists are lucky to escape unhurt from Thursday’s accident, it was not so 11 years ago when 15 footballers of amateur side, Jimeta Football Club Yola, as well as their coach and another official, met their death when their bus crashed into a gully along this same route.

Wikki Tourists are scheduled to face Dakkada FC at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium this weekend in their NPFL matchday 11 fixture.

It is not clear for now if the fixture will go on as scheduled or it will be postponed, due to this latest development.