COMMERCIAL drivers plying the Benin/Sagamu expressway early Thursday morning blocked the road at Okada, Edo State, following the killing of two persons on the road by armed robbers.
The blockage created gridlock on the ever-busy road for about 10 hours between about 3:00a.m and 1:00a.m., trapping thousands of travelers on the road.
It was gathered that the commercial bus drivers blocked the expressway to register their anger over incessant armed robbery attacks at a spot around Okada including that of Thursday morning that reportedly took the lives of two people.
In the latest of the robbery attacks, a driver and his conductor were said to have been killed, making the commercial drivers to block the road to draw the attention of authorities to what was described as regular armed robbery attacks in the area.
Johnson Saliu, who transports newspapers from Lagos to Benin and was caught up in the traffic, said he arrived the spot at about 3:30p.m. and left at about 1:15p.m., adding that newspapers coming from the south-west to Benin and other places were held by the traffic.
He pointed out that people transporting chicken lost some of their birds in the traffic due to heat, while those transporting pigs battled through resuscitation to save the lives of the pigs.
Edo State police commissioner, Haliru Gwandu, confirmed the incident, adding that a life was lost in the incident.
He said, “we got this information in the morning that there was a gridlock from Benin to Lagos. The report was that there was a robbery attack around 1:00a.m.
“Thank God the distress call was able to rescue all the passengers. However, the hoodlums, who came from the bush, shot the windscreen of the bus and wounded the conductor who later died in the hospital.
“Apart from the conductor who lost his life, others are hail and hearty. I will say kudos to my men who attended to the distress call.
“We have seen how it could have been supposing there was no prompt response from the police.”