•Gwagwalada-Abuja-Lokoja road gridlock
Vehicular traffic came to a standstill around 11:30am yesterday on the Abuja-Lokoja Road in Abuja after trailer drivers blocked the road to protest the alleged assault of a driver by soldiers.
Witnesses told our reporter at the scene that the altercation began after a trailer driver, coming from the Giri end, allegedly refused to stop at an army checkpoint located near the permanent site of the University of Abuja.
They said the driver’s refusal prompted soldiers at the checkpoint to use their Hilux van to pursue him and forced him to stop, reports Daily Trust.
Abdullahi Usman, another driver, said, “I was behind the trailer when he passed the army checkpoint. Shortly after, two soldiers in a Hilux van followed him until the trailer driver stopped.”
Usman claimed the soldiers got out of their van, dragged the driver down from his trailer, and assaulted him.
This, he said, prompted other drivers to block both lanes of the road.
Mustapha Ibrahim, a trailer driver who was among the protesters, claimed the driver had tried to stop at the checkpoint when the soldiers began to follow him.
He said that while the trailer was trying to park, the body of the truck scratched the soldiers’ pickup van.
According to Ibrahim, the soldiers then allegedly pounced on the driver and smashed the trailer’s windscreen.
“The driver was actually trying to park after the checkpoint when the soldiers pursued him,” Ibrahim claimed.
He added, “While trying to park, he brushed their van, which led to the soldiers assaulting the driver.”
He said the assault on the driver prompted other truck drivers to block the road in a show of solidarity, demanding the replacement of the damaged windscreen.
It was observed that motorists coming from the Gwagwalada-Giri-Zuba axis were forced to turn back.
While some travellers were still held in the gridlock, other motorists coming from the Abuja city center and the Lugbe-Airport road were also forced to turn back, with some opting to take the Kuje road.
Reacting to the situation, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) FCT Sector Commander, Mr. Felix Theman, confirmed the road blockage.
He said he had received information that the blockage was a result of an altercation between soldiers at the checkpoint and a trailer driver.
“From what I learned —because I was not at the scene — the trailer driver brushed the soldiers’ Hilux van after he refused to stop, which prompted the soldiers to pursue him and flag him down,” he said.
He added that an altercation ensued between the driver and the soldiers, which led to other drivers blocking the road in solidarity.
He confirmed that FRSC officials had been deployed to the scene.
Our correspondent reported that the road was still blocked as of 3:30pm when our reporter left the scene.
This incident followed a similar protest last Friday when tipper drivers blocked the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja highway to protest alleged extortion and the impoundment of their trucks by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Abaji.
The FCT Police Commissioner, Saka Ajao Adewale, had denied the allegation.
The road was later reopened after the police Area Commander of Abaji visited the scene and intervened.
