TRAGEDY (PHOTO OF ACCIDENT SCENE. PLS EXERCISE VIEWER DISCRETION) : Patience Jonathan’s mother dies in crash ... PunchNews : Anxiety Over VIP Death In Port Harcourt Accident ... LeadershipNews

THERE was anxiety in Port Harcourt on Monday as news of the death of Mrs. Iwari-Oba, the mother of the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience,  spread in the Rivers State capital.

The mother of Mrs. Jonathan was said to have been involved in a ghastly motor accident along Elele Road in Rivers State.

It was gathered that the woman, who is from Okrika Local Government Area, was on her way to Bayelsa State when the accident happened.

Unconfirmed report indicated that her corpse was taken to Kpaiyama Mortuary by a team of policemen and a member representing Ogu Bolo State Constituency, Mr. Evans Bipi, who is a relative to the deceased.

Though, the police and the Federal Road Safety Commission in the state could not confirm the incident, an aide to Bipi said the First Lady’s mother died in a road accident, which occurred at about 4pm.

Bipi’s aide, Mr. Fred Itobo, told The PUNCH that the President’s wife’s mother was involved in the accident while she was on her way to Bayelsa State.

“Yes! She was involved in an accident and she died. Her body has been taken to a mortuary. Bipi was among those who took her body to the mortuary,” Itobo said.

When contacted, the State Director of FRSC, Dr. Kayode Olagunju, declined comment on the matter, saying, “I cannot say anything on this matter now until I get full details.”

Though effort to get reactions from the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, proved futile, she had already told a journalist on the telephone that she had not been briefed on such crash.

Anxiety gripped some parts of Port Harcourt yesterday over an accident involving four occupants of a black Toyota Corolla vehicle, one of them believed to be very close to the first Lady Dame Patience Jonathan.
A driver, an elderly woman who unconfirmed reports said was a relation of the First Lady, 12-year-old and a 30-year-old woman were in the car before it lost control and tumbled into the bushes at the Isiokpo Bridge, Owerri-Port Harcourt expressway at about 4pm.
Officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) who first reached the accident scene confirmed the elderly woman and the 12-year-old girl dead, while the driver and a middle-aged woman survived with serious injuries.
The two survivors were taken to an undisclosed hospital, while the corpses of the old woman and the teenage girl were taken to the mortuary of the Isiokpo General Hospital.
After a few hours, the Rivers Police Commissioner, Mr Joseph Mbu, came with an entourage of senior police officers and took away the corpses to the mortuary of Prima Hospital, Elechi Beach located at Mile One area of Port Harcourt.
A visit to the Kpaima Mortuary, located in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt last night, revealed that the corpses of a teenage girl and a woman believed to be a very important personality (VIP) were deposited at the mogue.
A security man at the gate of the mogue, who pleaded anonymity, told LEADERSHIP that the corpses, which were deposited at about 8pm, were accompanied by about eight police patrol vehicles. However, the authorities of the private mortuary refused to give further details about the deposited corpses.
When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Agnes Agabe, said the police command was not aware of any such incident.
When contacted at press time, Ayo Osinlu, spokesperson of the first lady, believed to be in Geneva, Switzerland, with the first lady, could not be reached and all text messages sent to his phone were not replied.