Commercial motorcyclists, motorists and commercial drivers driving against traffic on Sunday compounded the gridlock on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, as both sides of the road were blocked.
PUNCH Metro observed as Okada riders, in particular, rode from the Magboro, Ogun State end of the expressway down to Berger, Lagos State.
Our correspondents also saw some police and military trucks attempting to navigate their way towards Lagos through one-way.
The vehicles of the security agents were closely followed by commercial buses.
Our reporters noted that all that happened as men of the Federal Road Safety Corps stationed at Warewa found it difficult to handle the situation, which had become chaotic.
Three lanes of the expressway inward Ogun State were blocked by vehicles trying to take one-way, which dragged the traffic to the Longbridge.
The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has been under reconstruction for some years, with the Sagamu-Lagos stretch of the road contracted to Julius Berger Nigeria.
The construction work is at the OPIC/Kara end of the expressway inward Lagos State.
The company narrowed that section into two lanes from its four-lane design, which created traffic on the road.
The situation has caused hardship to commuters who ply the interstate road.
The spokesperson for the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, Babatunde Akinbiyi, blamed the Sunday gridlock on the impatience of drivers.
He, however, said his men were monitoring the situation.
Akinbiyi said, “Anybody that we catch flouting traffic laws, especially in terms of driving in the direction prohibited, such a person will be apprehended and ticketed. We can also impound their vehicles and Okada.”
The Sector Commander, FRSC, Ogun State, Ahmed Umar, did not respond to calls and a text message sent to his phone as of the time of filing this report.
