The Anambra State Government has expressed its displeasure on the continuous blockade of the Ihiala section of the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway, by protesting truck drivers.
In a statement in Awka on Monday, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C-Don Adinuba, said the action of the truck drivers has resulted in unprecedented gridlock on the road, making life extremely difficult for motorists.
The truck drivers had blocked the ever-busy road since Friday, claiming to be protesting against an accident that occurred that day near a police checkpoint, at the Azia Junction of the road, killing two persons and injuring nine others.
The commissioner, while commiserating with the families of the victims, said the government was looking into ways to see the kind of assistance it could render to victims.
He added that the governor, Willie Obiano, had also directed the commissioner for transport and other relevant stakeholders to meet with the truck drivers on Tuesday in Awka to swiftly resolve the impasse.
He lamented that efforts to prevail on the chairman, Board of Trustees of the Union of Truck Drivers, Victor Okeke, to ensure his people vacated the road fell on deaf ears.
He said, “Okeke rejected all entreaties to get his men to leave the road in the overriding interest of motorists. He even ignored the decision by the commissioner of police to shift the checkpoint by the Special Forces from the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja.
“Most shockingly, Okeke arrogantly stated that the drivers would continue to block the Ihiala stretch of the Onitsha-Owerri Road until the Anambra State Government pays compensation to the families of casualties of the accident of last Friday and also to owners of the vehicles involved.
“How can any rational person hold Anambra State responsible for the failure of a brake system which may have been as a result of the road unworthiness of the truck in the first place and that the driver was under some influence? How can Anambra people be held accountable for an accident on a federal road?
“How can Anambra State be held liable for an accident which occurred three poles to a checkpoint mounted by federal security agents? How can subjecting the people of Anambra State and millions of others who use the Onitsha-Owerri Road to excruciating pain for days be a justifiable punishment for an accident in which they had no hand?”
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