Kidnapping: Drivers protest, block Enugu Ugwogo-Opi Nsukka roa

By Our Reporter

Commercial Sienna bus drivers plying Enugu Ugwogo-Opi Nsukka road on Tuesday blocked the Opi-Agu section of the road with their vehicles in protest against the renewed kidnapping of motorists on the road.

The protest which started about 7:30 am left hundreds of road users stranded for over 3 hours as the drivers were bent on drawing the attention of the authorities to happenings on the road.

The drivers were singing solidarity songs while matching up and down the road bearing placards with different descri2ptions such as;

"Enugu Ugwogo-Opi Nsukka road is kidnappers den.

"Government secure our roads and protect the lives of your citizens against kidnappers.

"Drivers and passengers are been kidnapped for ransom daily along this Enugu Ugwogo-Opi Nsukka road.

"Enough is enough, this kidnapping must stop!," among others.

Addressing newsmen, Mr. Chukwudi Offia, one of the coordinators of the 
commercial Sienna drivers said that they decided to block the road to draw the attention of the authorities to the plight of motorists plying the road.

"The incessant cases of kidnapping activities along this road have degenerated to an alarming stage.

"There is an urgent need for quick intervention because this Enugu Ugwogo-Opi Nsukka road is very strategic and one of the busiest roads in Enugu state.

"Just last week alone there were about seven cases of kidnapping activities that took place in different sections of the road despite the presence of military and police checkpoints along the road," he said.

Speaking further, Offia who noted that some of their drivers were victims of the kidnapping activities, lamented that the situation has affected their daily income as number of the passengers applying the road has reduced drastically.

"The situation is affecting us, this road is so unsafe, so scary that
the kidnappers will just emerge from the bush and start shooting directly at our vehicle to stop us and they carry out their nefarious activities.

"Three of our drivers who were recently kidnaped had to pay through their noses to secure their freedom.

"Passengers are scared to board our vehicle and travel through the road and this has reduced our daily income.

"These criminal elements are inside the bush, the multiple checkpoints on the road can not solve the problem, so we want the security agents to deploy all their arsenals to the bush and fish out the criminals," he said.

Also speaking, Hon Cosmas Agbo, a transporter who said that he escaped the kidnappers by a whisker last Wednesday lamented that the kidnapping activity is happening on the road on a daily basis in between two military checkpoints along the road.

"It is regrettable that human beings are being kidnapped and ransomed daily jeopardizing the economic return of those who ply their trades along the road.

"I want to advocate that Enugu state government should adopt a new approach in solving this problem by reactivating and motivating the forest guard so that they will guard our forest against these rampaging kidnappers," he said.

Agbo, however, called on the 10th national assembly 2 as a matter of urgency to pass the bill on community and state policing stressing that security should be a local thing.

A passenger, Monday Eze, who was traveling to Abuja, said that the passengers have been stranded for hours as the protesting drivers were insisting on drawing the attention of the authorities to their plight.

The road was however cleared for smooth flow of vehicles after Mr. Allen Evison, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the Eha-Alumona Police Division address the protesting drivers on the efforts they are making to arrest the situation.

Recalls that the Enugu Ugwogo-Opi Nsukka road witnessed high cases of abduction of travelers for ransom last year which prompted the government to heighten security along the road.