Nine former employees of the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) Limited were killed in a road accident in Kaduna State, yesterday.

The deceased were travelling from Kaduna to Kano State, for verification of their pension when the unfortunate incident happened.

The driver of the bus they rented reportedly lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a bush along the Kaduna–Zaria Expressway, less than 30 minutes after the journey reportedly commenced.

A witness said the driver attempted to avoid a pothole but swerved off the road, due to over-spending.

The pensioners were said to have died on the spot while the driver survived the incident “without a scratch.”

one of the deceased, Peter Duchi, was a pastor at the Philadelphia Baptist Church Sabon Tasha GRA, Kaduna.

The verification is being conducted by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) for former NITEL and Mobile Telecommunications (Mtel) employees,  for clearance, ahead of payment of their arrears.

The verification exercise is being conducted in Enugu, Rivers, Kano, Gombe, Abuja and Lagos.