By Felix Ekwu
Three persons are feared dead following an accident involving their vehicle and two cows on the popular Refinery road, Uvwie Local Government Area near Warri in Delta State.
NewsNet Nigeria reporter who was at the scene of the accident reports that the incident happened before 10 am today Saturday.
The three occupants of a blue Toyota Camry were driving on the lane of the dual carriage road which leads to the Warri Refinery when their vehicle rammed into the two big cows.
The accident with the cows also caused the vehicle to veer off the road and ram into the long stretch of the fence of the Nigerian Navy.
The cows were lying dead at the time of filing this report while the occupants of the badly damaged car were rushed to the hospital.
Vehicle owners and passersby besieged the scene to catch a glimpse of the accident, which cause is yet to be ascertained.
Some policemen and soldiers were on ground to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
The development comes against the existence of the anti-open grazing law which came into force in Delta State on September 30, 2021.
The law under Section 18 subsection 2(a) of the law states that “an individual or group who engages in open nomadic livestock grazing outside the designated areas of the state as first offender shall pay a fine of 300,000 naira while the (B) part provides that subsequent offender, will pay five hundred thousand naira or 1-year jail term upon conviction.
“Also, Section 17(a) provides that where a contravention of the law leads to harm, damage to farmlands, crops, property, the relevant Committee shall after evaluation of the damaged property pay the current value of the items in question by the owner or manager of the livestock while the (b) part states where an injury is caused to anybody within the state, the owner or manager of the livestock shall be guilty upon conviction and be liable to 2 years imprisonment.”
