19 Wedding Guests D!e as Vehicle Plunges into River After Bridge Collapsed in Zamfara

What was supposed to be a joyous day of celebration in Zamfara State turned into one of the darkest days in recent memory, as tragedy struck the quiet Fass community in Gummi Local Government Area on Saturday, September 13, 2025. At least nineteen wedding guests – men, women, and children – lost their l!ves when the vehicle ferrying them to the bride’s new home plunged into a swollen river after the Gwalli bridge suddenly collapsed beneath them.

The victims were members of the extended family of late Sheikh Dauda Fass, a respected community leader and former member of the Zamfara State House of Assembly. Their loss is not just personal but collective, shaking the entire axis that depends on the Gwalli bridge as a lifeline for trade, agriculture, social gatherings, and daily survival.

Eyewitnesses said the vehicle, which was part of a convoy transporting the bride to Jega community, had almost crossed the bridge when the structure gave way, sending passengers and vehicle crashing into the water below.

By the time rescue efforts were mobilized, 19 lives had been lost. What remained was the silence of grief – punctuated by wails from surviving relatives and stunned onlookers who could not believe the frail bridge had finally claimed so many lives at once.

Among the bereaved is Babangida Halifa Ibrahim Fass, a young man who now carries the weight of double sorrow – losing his sister and several close relatives in a single moment.

“The car fell from the bridge into the water,” he recalled, still visibly shaken when speaking to journalists hours after the incident. “As they were brought out, we found 19 of them dead, including men, women and children. My sister had just been wedded. She was supposed to be taken to Jega, to begin her new life as a wife. But that life was cut short even before it could start.”

His words captured the anguish rippling across Fass village. The wedding feast, which had been prepared since the early morning hours, turned into a funeral reception.

The local Imam, who had officiated the marriage earlier that day, led a second gathering before sunset — this time to pray for the souls of the departed.

To many in Gwalli, this tragedy was not entirely surprising — though its scale was shocking.

The Gwalli bridge, a once-proud structure built to connect Gummi LGA’s remote communities, has been in a precarious state for nearly a decade. According to locals, the bridge last saw major rehabilitation during the administration of former Governor Abdulazeez Yari. But a series of heavy rainfalls and seasonal flooding eroded its foundations, leaving cracks and weakened sections that turned it into what residents described as “a disaster waiting to happen.”

Earlier this year, worried villagers from Gwalli, Yar Gusau, Fass, and Bardoki pooled resources and manpower to carry out sand-filling work to shore up the bridge’s base. But as civil engineers have repeatedly warned, community-led patchwork repairs can only do so much for a failing piece of infrastructure.

“We have been shouting for help for years,” said Malam Musa, a 63-year-old farmer and community elder. “This bridge is our only way to move goods and people. We wrote letters. We complained during political rallies. We even blocked the road one time to draw attention. But no government official came. Now see what has happened. We are burying children because no one listened.”

The collapse of the Gwalli bridge is more than a tragic accident; it is an economic disaster.

Gummi Local Government Area is one of Zamfara’s key food-producing zones, known for its millet, groundnuts, beans, and livestock trade. The Gwalli bridge is a major artery for transporting farm produce to larger markets in Jega, Sokoto, and beyond. Its collapse threatens to choke the rural economy, leaving farmers stranded and traders unable to move their goods.

Commercial drivers who ply the route say they are already calculating losses.

“If we must go around now, it will add over 40 kilometers to our journey,” said one transporter. “That means more fuel, more risk of armed bandit attacks, and higher cost of goods. It is the poor man who will suffer.”

This fear is not unfounded. Rural road networks in Zamfara are notoriously unsafe due to banditry. Forcing travelers to seek longer detours may expose them to kidnapping risks, further deepening the insecurity and poverty cycle.

By Sunday morning, the entire Fass community had transformed into a mourning ground. Women sat on mats, crying uncontrollably. Men gathered in small groups, some staring blankly at the collapsed bridge, others digging graves in preparation for a mass burial.

Local mosques echoed with Qur’anic recitations, seeking forgiveness and mercy for the dead. In Hausa tradition, such a tragedy calls for a three-day mourning period, but in this case, many residents said the grief would last much longer.

“We have lost almost an entire family,” one elder lamented. “The house of Sheikh Dauda Fass has been wiped out in a single day. We do not know how to comfort them.”

The emotional toll is compounded by the fact that the bride — whose wedding was meant to unite families and bring joy — is among the dead. Cultural experts say this will leave a deep scar on communal memory, with future weddings in the area likely to carry an undertone of grief.

Almost immediately after the tragedy, questions arose about government responsibility.

Why was a bridge that had been reported as unsafe left to deteriorate for so long? Why were promises of repair, reportedly made during campaign seasons, never fulfilled?

Some residents accuse successive state governments of neglecting Gummi LGA because of its distance from Gusau, the state capital. Others argue that rural infrastructure generally receives the least attention in Nigeria’s political prioritization.

“When elections come, politicians will drive to our villages and promise heaven and earth,” said a youth leader who requested anonymity. “But after they win, they forget us. If this bridge was in Gusau town, or near the Government House, do you think it would be allowed to collapse? Never.”

The State Ministry of Works has yet to issue a formal statement, but civil society organizations are already calling for a probe.

Community leaders have wasted no time in mobilizing for advocacy. In a joint statement issued Sunday morning, the chiefs of Gwalli, Fass, and Yar Gusau demanded urgent intervention from both the Zamfara State Government and the Federal Ministry of Works.

They requested:

• Emergency relief materials for the bereaved families.
• A temporary alternative crossing, such as a Bailey bridge, to restore mobility.
• A long-term plan to construct a durable, flood-resistant bridge to serve the area.

National lawmakers representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency are also expected to raise the matter on the floor of the House of Representatives this week, in a bid to attract federal attention.

Civil engineers warn that this tragedy is part of a bigger national problem. Nigeria’s rural bridges and feeder roads are aging rapidly, with many built during the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s but rarely maintained.

Dr. Ibrahim Garba, a civil engineering lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, explained that lack of regular inspection, combined with heavy rainfall and overuse, weakens rural bridges over time.

“When a bridge fails, it is rarely sudden,” he said. “There are always warning signs: cracks, subsidence, exposed reinforcement. But because we have no routine maintenance culture, these signs are ignored until we have a disaster. What happened in Gwalli will happen again elsewhere unless we change course.”

Sadly, this is not the first time that wedding celebrations have been cut short by tragedy in northern Nigeria. In August 2023, thirteen wedding guests died in a boat mishap in Niger State. In 2021, twenty-six died in Sokoto State under similar circumstances.

Sociologists argue that these recurrent disasters reflect deeper issues: poor infrastructure, weak disaster response systems, and underinvestment in rural communities.

As the sun set on Sunday evening, fresh mounds of earth marked the graves of the nineteen victims. The wails had quieted, replaced by the low murmur of prayers.

But beneath the grief lies a simmering anger — one that could transform into a louder demand for accountability.

Residents say they will no longer accept political excuses. If the government fails to rebuild the bridge quickly, they threaten to block major roads leading into Gummi LGA, forcing authorities to take notice.

The question now is whether state and federal actors will respond decisively or allow the tragedy to fade into yet another forgotten statistic.

The Gwalli bridge collapse is a grim reminder that infrastructure neglect is not just an inconvenience — it is a matter of life and death.

For the Fass community, it is a lesson learned too late. The price was nineteen lives, a shattered wedding, and a region thrown into mourning.

For Nigeria, it should be a wake-up call. Preventing future tragedies will require:

• A national bridge inspection and maintenance program.
• A dedicated fund for rural infrastructure repair.
• Community-inclusive planning to ensure local voices are heard.

If these steps are not taken, the country risks repeating the cycle — waiting until the next bridge fails, the next vehicle plunges, and the next village mourns.

Until then, Fass will bury its d3ad and wait — for justice, for reconstruction, and for the return of the safe passage that once connected them to the rest of the world.

 

Source: LIB