Motorists and other road users moving into the Abuja City Centre in the FCT now spend several minutes or hours in traffic due to military checkpoints mounted on the artery ways.

Investigation by City & Crime revealed that the checkpoints hitherto abandoned by soldiers for other assignments, were resurrected on Tuesday last week, with the deployment of more soldiers, as well as additional gadgets like armoured tanks.

People entering Abuja through the Zuba-Dei-Dei Expressway to come to work said the roadblocks were mounted between Sabon-Wuse and Dikko Junction in Niger State, as well as between Zuba and Dei-Dei in the FCT.

City & Crime reports that military checkpoints have also been mounted between Bwari and Dutsen-Alhaji; at the Karu Junction and before the Mogadishu Cantonment on the Abuja-Keffi Expressway, as well as around Giri Junction on the Abuja-Lokoja Highway.

A passenger, Sulaiman Ibrahim, who lives in Sabon-Wuse in Tafa LGA in Niger State, said he spent more than one hour in traffic at the checkpoints around Dikko Junction and between Zuba and Dei-Dei on Sunday afternoon; noting that before the mountain of the roadblocks, the road was less busy at weekend.

Most of the people interviewed linked the return of the checkpoints to the planned nationwide protest against hunger and bad governance scheduled for August 1. (Daily Trust)