By Adeleye Kunle
Yesterday, there was tension at the Umuchieze cattle market in Abia State’s Umunneochi council area, as cattle dealers blocked the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway over the alleged killing of a herdsman and some cows.
Suspected gunmen are accused of invading an area where herdsmen rear their cattle and killing a herder and several cows. The Abia State government demolished suspected criminal hideouts at the cattle market last week.
Protesters set fires and used trailers to block both lanes of the expressway. The cattle dealers pleaded with the federal government to help them.
However, the situation resulted in heavy traffic congestion in the area, with over 200 motorists and passengers stranded.
Attempts by soldiers and police officers to clear the barricade were thwarted when protesting youths added large sticks to the bonfire. They later cleared a small section of the barricade to allow a military patrol van to pass through.
One of the stranded motorists on his way to Enugu told Vanguard that they had to return to Okigwe junction and take the Uturu – Akaeze road to get back to the expressway’s Ishiagu junction.
“We were in a bus on our way to Enugu,” he explained. When we arrived in Lokpanta, some people on the roadside shouted ‘no road, no road’ at us. There was a heavy traffic buildup with 200 vehicles as we approached the cattle market. We had to return to Okigwe, at Ihube junction, to the Uturu – Akaeze road, from which we took the expressway to Ishiagu junction, Ebonyi State. The detour is approximately 40 kilometers in length. To get to Enugu, all of the stranded travelers had to take this route.”
Attempts to obtain a response from the Police Public Relations Officer,Abia State Command,SP Geoffrey Ogbonna were futile because he did not respond to text messages sent to his handset.
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