Road traffic was brought to a halt for several hours on Wednesday on the Abuja-Lokoja Road after trailer drivers blocked the highway to protest the alleged assault of a colleague by soldiers at a checkpoint.
The protest, which began around 11:30am near the University of Abuja permanent site, left motorists stranded, with many forced to turn back and seek alternative routes.
Witnesses said the incident started when a trailer driver allegedly refused to stop at an Army checkpoint along the Giri axis in Gwagwalada Area Council of FCT. Soldiers reportedly pursued him in a Hilux van and forced him to stop.
According to Daily Trust, Abdullahi Usman, a driver who witnessed the scene, said, “I was behind the trailer when he passed the army checkpoint. Shortly after, two soldiers in a Hilux van followed him until the trailer driver stopped.”
Usman claimed the soldiers then dragged the driver from his vehicle and assaulted him, sparking anger among other truck drivers who quickly blocked both lanes of the road.
Mustapha Ibrahim, another trailer driver who joined the protest, insisted that the assaulted driver had tried to stop at the checkpoint when the soldiers began pursuing him.
“The driver was actually trying to park after the checkpoint when the soldiers pursued him. While trying to park, he brushed their van, which led to the soldiers assaulting the driver,” Ibrahim said.
“They also smashed the trailer’s windscreen, and that was why we blocked the road in solidarity, demanding that the windscreen be replaced.”
The protest caused massive disruption, with motorists coming from the Gwagwalada-Giri-Zuba axis forced to turn back, while others coming from Abuja city center and the Lugbe-Airport Road diverted through Kuje.
Confirming the incident, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) FCT Sector Commander, Mr. Felix Theman, said the blockade was linked to the altercation between the soldiers and the trailer driver.
“From what I learned, because I was not at the scene, the trailer driver brushed the soldiers’ Hilux van after he refused to stop, which prompted the soldiers to pursue him and flag him down,” Theman explained.
“An altercation ensued between the driver and the soldiers, which led to other drivers blocking the road in solidarity.”
He added that FRSC officials had been deployed to the scene to manage the situation.
As of 3:30 p.m on Wednesday, the highway remained blocked, with many travelers still stranded.
The incident came barely a week after tipper drivers blocked the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja highway to protest alleged extortion and the impoundment of their trucks by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Abaji Area Council of FCT. The FCT Police Commissioner, Saka Ajao Adewale, denied the allegations, and the road was later reopened following the intervention of the Abaji Area Commander.
