BBNaija Phyna: One Year After Sister’s Death, Driver Still Free

Big Brother Naija “Level Up” winner Josephine “Phyna” Otabor marked one year since the death of her younger sister, Ruth Otabor, on Monday, August 31, 2026.

In a post on Instagram, Phyna said the underage truck driver who hit her sister has not faced justice. “The underage truck driver that killed her walks freely today,” she wrote. She said Ruth’s case “was swept under the carpet.”

Phyna described the past year without her sister as difficult. She wrote that she still misses the small things only sisters share and that a part of her life “stopped the day you left.” She closed the post with an apology: “I’m sorry I could not get you justice.”

Ruth Otabor was hit by a Dangote Group cement truck near Auchi Polytechnic in Edo State on August 13, 2025, six days after she graduated from the school. The crash left her with severe injuries. Doctors amputated her left leg from the pelvic region, and her right leg, hand, and head also sustained damage.

Phyna accused Dangote of shielding the driver instead of helping her sister. She said the company told the police to remove the truck’s number plate and sent a manager to the police station rather than seeing her sister first. Actress Kate Henshaw also spoke on the case, saying the truck was being held at the Auchi police station.

Dangote Group responded in a statement, saying senior officials from Dangote Cement and its insurance team visited the scene, met with police, and visited Ruth and her family at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo State. The company covered her medical costs and later said it had arranged to fly her to India for treatment, pending clearance from her doctors.

Ruth died on August 31, 2025, at about 6:30 a.m., nineteen days after the accident, while still in hospital.

Activist Martins Otse, known as VeryDarkMan or VDM, joined the case after Phyna asked for his help. He arranged meetings between Phyna, lawyers, and Dangote representatives and warned that he would call for a halt to Dangote’s operations in Edo State if Ruth died.

The alliance broke down before Ruth’s death. VDM accused Phyna of excluding him from a scheduled meeting with Dangote representatives and said she was focused on a ₦1 billion compensation demand. He also disclosed that Ruth was married with two children, a detail Phyna had kept private. Phyna publicly apologized to him afterward, writing, “Please, bro, you should have called me as you see I am lagging.”

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After Ruth’s death, VDM criticized the public and government agencies for their silence during her nineteen days in hospital. “She was alive for nineteen days, yet nobody spoke up,” he said in a video posted to Instagram on August 31, 2025. He also condemned Dangote Group’s use of unlicensed drivers and called on authorities to act.

No conviction or completed legal case against the driver or Dangote Group has been publicly reported in the year since Ruth’s death. Phyna’s anniversary post carried the hashtag #justicesforeuth, and she said she will carry her sister’s memory “in every achievement, every tear, every smile.”