Commuters and motorists plying Onitsha roads, Anambra State, were left stranded on Tuesday as a result of a protest by truck drivers, which shut down the major roads linking the area.
The protest was said to have started at the Upper Iweka axis in the early hours when a truck driver was stabbed by some illegal revenue collectors for refusing to pay the N2,000 levy imposed on drivers.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the attack made the driver to lose control of the steering and rammed the vehicle into a drainage system, thereby trapping his conductor, who was stuck under the truck for several hours.
As sympathisers rushed the driver to a hospital, his colleagues used their trailers numbering over 50 to block the expressway leading to the River Niger Bridge, thereby causing a standstill that lasted for over eight hours.
As of the time of filing this report, vehicles were still held in the gridlock from the Iweka Roundabout end linking the River Niger Bridge Head.
Most of the major roads, including Awka Road, Bridge Head, Upper Iweka, Owerri Road and Ezeiweka Road were blocked.
It was learnt that the drivers parked their trucks and walked away, insisting that the situation would remain so until the state Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, addressed them.
Not even the presence of security agencies, who later arrived at the scene, made the drivers have a change of mind.
An eyewitness, identified as Ugo, said, “Trouble started for the truck driver and his conductor when they approached Upper Iweka and a group of illegal revenue collectors tried to flag them down, but the driver sped off and they pursued him.
“In the process, one of them climbed the driver’s seat and stabbed him in the neck even as another also stabbed the conductor, which forced the driver to lose control of the trailer and plunged into a drainage system, cutting the leg of the conductor. The driver also sustained deep cuts all over his body.”
Another motorist, Mrs Grace Ogar, lamented that it took relevant agencies several hours to arrive at the scene for rescue operations, while the conductor remained trapped under the trailer for hours.
The Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, Anambra State, Adeoye Irelewuyi, said the conductor had been rescued and taken to a hospital.
“However, the truck drivers are presently protesting against the activities of louts (agberos) which led to the crash in the first place.
“FRSC personnel and other agencies are trying to appeal to the protesting truck drivers who blocked the expressway to allow reason prevail,” he added.
