For hours on Friday, hundreds of protesting truck drivers blocked the Auchi-Benin highway, Edo State, to protest the deplorable state of the road.
While the protest lasted, commuters on the road were stranded as all the adjoining roads that could serve as detours were also blocked.
The problem became compounded given the penultimate week suspension of three Head of Service, HoS, in three local government areas of the state for allowing articulated vehicles to destroy feeder roads in their locality. The action led to the closure of Trunk C road in Edo North Senatorial District of the state to
The angry drivers blocked the road as motorists were forced to look for alternative routes into and out of the state.
The protesting truck drivers, who carried placards with various inscriptions, vowed to continue their protest until their demands were met.
Saturday Tribune noticed a long stretch of articulated vehicles parked indiscriminately, piled up along the Jattu Junction and the Auchi Polytechnic school gate.
One of the coordinators of the protest, Mr Donald Etamobe, who spoke to journalists said: “We will not stop this protest for good roads until the Federal Government addresses them.” Kadiri said.
“The protest became inevitable due to the bad road from Auchi to Benin which is impassable at the moment. Subsequently, the barricade of alternative routes by the Edo State Government, hence the peaceful protest,” Etamobe said.
A commuter, Lawal Abdullahi, told journalists that he parked his car at Aviele and took a motorcycle to his office at Auchi.
Another of the motorists trapped in the gridlock, Jimoh Kadiri, said he had remained in the same spot on the road for over seven hours.
Mr Kadiri described the development as bad for the state and the country. He, however, called on the Federal Government to fix the road.
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