The Senate has resolved to honour Ejiro Otarigho, the brave tanker driver who drove a burning tanker from the danger zone to avert a tragic fire incident in Agbarho, Delta State.
According to a statement by Yomi Odunuga, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Deputy President of the Senate on Tuesday, 14th June 2022, it also recommended Ejiro to President Muhammadu Buhari for National Honours.
This followed a motion moved by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central), and co-sponsored by Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South) and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi (APC, Delta North) on Tuesday’s plenary.
Following suit, the Federal Road Safety Corps has also commended the bravery, courage, and professionalism of Mr Otarigho Ejiro.
It would be recalled that in a rare act of bravery, Ejiro had last week driven a burning tanker from a danger zone to avert what could have been a tragic fire incident in Agbarho, Delta State.
The incident happened last Friday when Ejiro drove the burning truck for 25 minutes from a densely populated area to Agbarho River where the tanker was completely razed by the inferno.
The act was captured by onlookers and had gone viral.
Rising under Order 45 and 52 of the Senate Standing Order 2021 (as amended), Senator Omo-Agege stressed that but for Ejiro’s courage, a major fire disaster that would have claimed several lives and property could have happened in his senatorial district.
The Delta Central lawmaker noted that Ejiro’s “extraordinary display of courage, reflex application of special driving skills, and huge risk to his own life, prevented a huge national tragedy and catastrophe by driving a burning tanker loaded with inflammable petroleum products from residential areas to safety so that thousands of our people may not die in an inferno that would also have consumed so much property in Agbarho, Delta State on Friday, June 10, 2022”.
Accordingly, the Senate resolved to “invite Mr. Ejiro Otarigho to the Chamber of the Senate for public commendation by the President of the Senate, Most Distinguished Senator (Dr.) Ibrahim Lawan;
“Recommend Mr. Ejiro Otarigho to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, for a befitting National Honour as Mr. President may deem fit for his extraordinary act of bravery, courage, and skill that prevented the loss of human lives and property on a massive scale”.
President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan who presided over the plenary, hailed the driver for risking his life to drive the burning truck out of the residential area to save lives.
The Tanker driver’s display of professionalism has endeared the Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi to bestow upon him an award for a rare exhibition of bravery. The award shall be given to him at a date to be announced soon.
According to Bisi Kazeem, the Corps Public Education Officer, the Corps Marshal, who received the report of the incident which occurred in Agbarho community of the East-West road in Ughelli north local government area, of Delta State on Friday described the heroic act as; “patriotic, sacrificial, selfless and highly commendable”.
He said that the commendation is done to reaffirm the position of the Corps as an agency that does not only punish drivers when they contravene the law, but also commend them when they display professionalism in driving.
