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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Truck drivers seize Enugu highway over police harassment
IT was a total nightmare for thousands of commuters travelling from the Northern part of the country to the East on Tuesday night as their vehicles were held up for about 24 hours, following protest by truck drivers against the shooting of their colleague's vehicle.
The truck drivers alleged that the vehicle was shot by mobile policemen at a check-point on the Enugu-Makurdi Highway in Amalla Village in Udenu Local Council of Enugu State.
About 500 vehicles, including luxury buses, trucks conveying cows and food items from the North to the Eastern part of the country, fuel tankers and other heavy-duty vehicles were trapped on the road during the protest.
The incident, which took place about 11.30 p.m., according to sources, paralysed flow of traffic on the highway as truck drivers blocked the single-carriage way with their vehicles, demanding the replacement of the lorry tyre damaged by the trigger-happy mobile policemen.
No casualties were recorded but it was learnt that the mobile policemen at the check-point had shot at the lorry driver following his alleged refusal to meet their demand of a N100 bribe.
The driver, it was further gathered, refused to give the money and in an attempt to move his vehicle, was fired at by one of the policemen who reportedly fled the scene when the protest erupted.
The Guardian gathered that other truck drivers converged at the scene, demanding immediate replacement of the damaged lorry tyre, adding that they would not leave the road until their demand was met.
The policemen abandoned the check point for fear of being attacked by the rampaging drivers on the excuse that they were going to Nsukka to purchase another tyre to replace the damaged one.
At about 10.30 a.m. when The Guardian visited the scene, several vehicles were parked on the road while their passengers, most of who had passed the night in the village, were busy looking for what to eat. The villagers, however, utilised the opportunity to make brisk business, selling sachet water for N20 with other snacks and fruits at exorbitant prices.
One of the commuters said the mobile policemen at check-points on the road, especially within the South-East axis, had continued to cause nightmare for motorists and their commuters, adding that his plan to meet an appointment in Anambra State was shattered by the incident.
"We were travelling from Maiduguri to Onitsha in a luxury bus and on arrival at this place (Amalla Village), we met several vehicles parked at about midnight and thought it was the usual police stop-and-search. After waiting for hours and there was no movement, we became worried and came down, only to be told that lorry drivers blocked the road following the shooting of one of their vehicles by mobile policemen at the check-point", the commuter said.
A lorry driver, Alhaji Haruna Ibrahim, told reporters that their decision to protest the shooting was to show solidarity with the affected driver, as well as to register their dissatisfaction with the attitude of policemen on the highways.
The intervention of an assistant commissioner of police, who arrived at the scene with a team of policemen at about 11.00 a.m., led to the resumption of traffic on the road as he appealed to the protesting motorists to vacate the road.
He assured that the state police command would bring the policemen involved in the incident to book if found culpable, promising to remain at the scene until the damaged tyre was replaced.
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