Deep sorrow, wailing and weeping engulfed family members, friends and members of the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN) when Ms Temitope Bello, a theatre artiste, who died of severe injuries in a road accident which occurred exactly a week earlier on Apete Road, Ibadan, Oyo State, was being laid to rest on Friday, December 13. Ms Bello was committed to mother earth by a pastor and members of Celestial Church of Christ, to which she belonged till her death, and a gathering of sympathisers.

She had succumbed to injuries and loss of blood after she was rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, on Friday, December 6. A car had collided with the commercial motorcycle she rode on, severing one of her foot which was held by a piece of flesh. Her thigh was also affected in the accident.

Before death came calling, Ms Bello, popularly known as Temmy Rose on her social media handles, was eagerly preparing for her first child?s beauty contest scheduled for Sunday, December 8, in Ibadan, Oyo State, where she was also residing. To score more points in the contest, participants were encouraged to sell event tickets to prospective attendees. As Ms Bello was doing this, she could not abandon her church member and friend who just lost her husband. More so, Bello was a prophetess at Celestial Church of Christ, Messiah Parish, Alabidun area, Airport Road, Ibadan.

After she visited her daughter where contestants were camped and gave her the needed costumes, she waved bye to her daughter and left for Apete, where the church member resides. Sadly, that was the final contact she had with her daughter and relatives.

In the accident which occurred at almost 7 pm that Friday, the driver of a Hyundai Sonata car with no registration number, one Ibrahim Oluwaponmile, had left his lane and collided with a motorcycle, injuring Bello; another passenger, Bola Sinmiloluwa and the rider, Jimoh Tunde.

The accident affected three electric poles felled by the car?s impact, rendering Apete Community in total darkness since then. The IBEDC officials had reportedly said that each pole would cost N200,000 for replacement. The car driver was saved by the seat belt he used, in addition to the car airbags that were deployed as a result of the impact of the collision.

Irate mob had descended on him, ready to lynch him before he was saved by the police. However, they descended on his car, throwing huge stones on it until the already damaged car became wrecked. Found in the car were perfumes, new clothes, broken shisha pot and its hose and fire lighters, among other items.

Sunday Tribune, which witnessed the incident, gathered that Bello, who lives at Iyana Agbala, Alakia area of Ibadan, came to greet her friend and church member who lost her husband at Apete and was returning home when she met her death.

A relative, who spoke with Sunday Tribune but did not disclose her name, said that when she was not seen at a time she was expected to have returned, the deceased?s mother called to inform her that Ms Bello had yet to return from the condolence visit she made to her friend. The family member called the friend she visited and that one told the caller that Ms Bello had already left her place. She said that she later heard of an accident at Apete and came there, only to discover that her relative was part of it and had died.

Sunday Tribune further learnt that the deceased fainted before getting to the hospital but was resuscitated when water was poured on her. On getting to UCH, she managed to give her name to medical personnel attending to her in UCH but slurred in her speech and was unable to coherently give the phone number of a relation before she gave up. She was said to have lost so much blood.

When traced and interviewed, the car owner, Oluwapinmile, aged 27, admitted that he was at fault. He said that he was trying to evade a bad spot on the road when he collided with the motorcycle.

Oluwaponmile, an event manager, who supplies drinks to celebrants at any ceremony, said: ?I went to drop a friend at Sango and was returning to Apete. There?s a bad portion along the road. A car overtook mine and I didn?t notice the bad portion because it was dark. I swerved, facing two motorcycles. I avoided one of them and struggled with the car to avoid the other but lost control.

?I didn?t do it deliberately. I hit a concrete pole and my head got stuck by the front passenger seat before I was pulled out. I couldn?t move my hands or legs. I couldn?t stand on my own. I was carried by people.?

Sunday Tribune gathered from some residents in his neighbourhood that they had incessantly complained about his speed while on motion.

When asked why he was going about without registration number, Oluwaponmile said that the car was already registered but he kept the number plates. On whether he possessed driver?s licence, he said that he had one but lost it. He also confessed that it was his brother who taught him how to drive but he formally went to driving school in Cotonou, Republic of Benin. He confirmed that he was using a white car before he purchased Hyundai car about three weeks before the accident

On the alcoholic drinks found in his car, he told Sunday Tribune that they were bought for landlords in his area. Concerning the broken shisha pot and hose found in his wrecked car, Oluwaponmile said that he stopped smoking shisha a while ago, adding the pot and hose had been dismantled by him long time ago. He stated that he stopped smoking shisha when he became sick and was smoking only cigarettes. He disclosed that he bought the 2012 Hyundai car for N6.8 million.

In an interview, Bello?s family members and told Sunday Tribune that the 19-year-old daughter participating in the beauty contest is a first-year Theatre Arts student at the Osun State University. An agency had organised the beauty contest held at Bola Event Centre, Elebu, Ibadan, on Sunday, December 8, and had put the contestants in a camp since Wednesday. While the daughter was there, the deceased reportedly went to the camp on the fateful day hand over costumes that her daughter would use for the contest to her before visiting a church member, unknown that it would be their last contact. The daughter won the competition but her mother, who had prepared her for the contest, sadly, didn?t live to witness the day of joy.

The family members said that the daughter got a hint of her mother?s involvement in an accident from one of her friends on Saturday.

?Her daughter, Adeshewa, was worried when she could not get her mother on phone, and when she was told of the accident, we dismissed it, making her to believe her that her mother had gone to a location where she couldn?t pick up calls.

?After the beauty contest, we took her to her maternal grandparents? place and broke the news to her. The grandparents had already got the sad news on Saturday evening.?

On the daughter?s reaction to her mother?s death, the family said that it was as if she was prepared, with the inkling she got from her friend, and had participated in the contest as a honour to the deceased. ?She had been crying after she was informed of the accident, but she summoned courage and was a bit calm when the news was finally broken to her,? one of the family members said.

The deceased was described as lovely, lively, and radiant. ?The young man who caused the accident that led to Temitope?s death has just cast darkness on the family. He spoilt everything for us. If you knew her, you would like her. She was always willing to help and had friendly hug for all. She was a vessel of honour used by God for His work,? they stated.

Temitope as a theatre artiste worked with Mr Yomi Duro Ladipo, a scion of late Duro Ladipo, and belonged to acting communities in Oyo State. She was 39 years old and would have been 40 on May 8. Till her death, she was a single mother of two ?a female and a male of the same father.

It was learnt that the other injured woman is still in the hospital receiving treatment, while the car driver and okada had been discharged from the private hospital they were taken to. (Sunday Tribune)

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