By BANNERNEWS Reporter
Another journalist injured in the ghastly road accident involving media personnel in Bauchi State has died, raising fresh concerns over the safety of journalists on official assignments.
A cameraman with the Bauchi State Television Authority (BATV), Kabiru Ahmed Ilaleh, died in the early hours of Sunday, March 1, 2026, from severe neck injuries sustained in the crash. He was aged 56.
Kabiru passed away at the New Surgical Complex of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, where he had been receiving treatment since the accident.
His funeral prayer was conducted at about 2:15 p.m. at the Bauchi Central Mosque, led by the Deputy Chief Imam, Malam Ahmad Inuwa Na’ibi, after which he was buried according to Islamic rites.
The late cameraman was among 13 journalists from various media organisations involved in the accident while covering the commissioning of projects executed by the North East Development Commission (NEDC) in Bauchi State.
The crash occurred on February 6, 2026, along the Yashi–Yelwan Duguri Road in Alkaleri Local Government Area, shortly after a delegation led by the Minister of State for Regional Development, Alhaji Uba Maigari Ahmadu, commissioned and handed over a Government Secondary School in Yelwan Duguri.
Eyewitnesses said the accident happened when the driver conveying the journalists attempted to overtake a convoy but lost control, causing the vehicle to veer off the road and somersault repeatedly, throwing occupants out.
All the journalists sustained varying degrees of injuries, including head trauma, fractures and bruises, with Kabiru and another cameraman, Kani Ben of Channels Television, reported as the most critically injured.
Kani Ben later died on February 15, 2026, at the Intensive Care Unit of the Modular Theatre Complex at ATBUTH, making Kabiru the second fatality from the incident.
Sources disclosed that Kabiru formally retired from the Bauchi State Government as a BATV staff member on February 18, 2026, while still receiving treatment in hospital.
He is survived by his mother, two wives, seven children and other relatives.
