Commuters plying the Abuja-Lokoja highway were stranded for hours as truck drivers, who were on a protest, blocked the Jamata axis of the highway.
Yahaya Bello, Governor of Kogi State, was also not spared, as his convoy ran into the gridlock while he was on his way to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
According to information from Petra Akinti Onyegbule, Chief Press Secretary to Kogi State Governor, the gridlock was to protest the shooting of the tyres of a truck by a soldier.
It took the intervention of the Kogi Governor, who invested more than an hour, for the situation to be resolved.
According to Onyegbule: “This morning on his way to the Presidential Villa to meet with Mr. President, Governor Yahaya Bello ran into a traffic gridlock caused by protesting truck drivers who blocked the Jamata axis of the Abuja-Lokoja highway and brought traffic on the ever busy highway to a standstill.
“The protest was ignited after a military man allegedly shot the tyres of a truck. In solidarity, other truck drivers quickly mobilised and used their vehicles to block both sides of the highway, bringing traffic to a halt and commuters stranded for hours.
“It took the intervention of the Governor who spent over an hour at the site of the incident to solve the situation and bring normalcy to the highway.
“The Governor used the opportunity to call for understanding amongst road users and security operatives to always try and resolve issues they may have amicably without causing a hindrance on the highway and putting other road users through unnecessary stress.”
