By NEFISHETU YAKUBU

Residents of Ohovbe community in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo on Thursday in their numbers, grounded commercial activities along Benin-Agbor expressway while protesting deplorable state of the road.

The protesters turned the protest to a carnival as they slaughtered a cow and cooked the meat on the road.

Youths in the locality also turned the expressway to a football field, blocking the entire road.

The protest, which started on Wednesday, grew stronger on Thursday, disrupting the community’s market day, thereby forcing residents of the area to trek long distances to their destinations, and leaving other travelers stranded.

Mr. Omuobi Abuegwu, an articulated vehicle driver who left Lagos enroute Onitsha but became stuck at the middle of the protest in Benin, said he was not even sure of when he would leave the log jam created by the protest.

“I have been here since 9 a.m. since yesterday. I have not even moved an inch. The residents are protesting against the bad road.

“As I speak, I have not eaten since. I am coming from Lagos and I am going to Onitsha,” Abuegwu said.

A resident of the area, Solomon Nnamdi, warned that the government was pushing the people of the state to the limits of their endurance.

His words: “It has been a very long time the people have been complaining. They are pushing the people to their limit. So, we are saying that the government should wake up.

“There is money in our country and there is money in the state. Edo State is an oil producing state. Apart from that, the IGR can do a lot of things in the state to reduce the sufferings of the people.

“This road condition is affecting food prices in the market. You can see trucks parked here for days. I just saw one Hausa man sleeping under his truck.

“If such a person has food stuffs which he is going to deliver to another state, the goods will unfortunately perish before he gets to his destination.”

Mr Figo Tete, who acted as a referee during a football match on the major road, also said they would remain on the road until the state and federal governments rehabilitated the roads in the state. (NAN)

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