Hardship Protest: Soldiers Take Over Major Abuja Road

Less than 72 hours to the planned nationwide protest scheduled for August 1 over the economic hardship in the country, military personnel have taken over a major road leading to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

LEADERSHIP reports that many commuters were stranded for hours due to the ‘stop and search’ operation mounted by the military personnel.

Commuters plying the Abuja-Keffi Expressway from the Nasarawa axis were on Monday stranded when military officers barricaded the highway to conduct a stop-and-search operation on vehicles entering the nation’s capital.

The soldiers mounted a roadblock at the Sani Abacha Barracks before the popular A-Y-A bridge which led to major gridlocks on the road.

Security agencies did not give any prior notice for the blockade that was responsible for the gridlock that extended as far as the Nyanya Bridge from the checkpoint.

Civil servants and traders working in the city centre mostly live at the satellite towns in places such as Nyanya, Karu in the FCT and reaching as far as Maraba, Masaka and Keffi in neighbouring Nasarawa State.

Many frustrated commuters were forced to return home after hours of being held in the gridlock.

The federal government and concerned stakeholders have continued to persuade organisers of the planned nationwide hardship protest to dialogue with the government, maintaining that the protests could be hijacked to worsen the fragile economic situation in the country.