Politics
THE ongoing #EndSARS protest took a turn for the worse on Tuesday, as scores of hoodlums took advantage of the protest to mount different roadblocks on the Ilesa-Ife-Ibadan expressway and extort motorists.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who witnessed the situation, reports that the roadblocks affected both lanes of the expressway.
NAN also reports that the hoodlums were out, setting up barricades on the expressway as early as 8 am.
The roadblocks, located within a distance of about 500 metres each, started at the Asejiri axis of the expressway and extended to Iwo Road end of the road.
Some of the hoodlums were seen harassing the motorists and extorting as much as N2,500 from each of them before they opened up the barricades.
The hoodlums were also seen accusing the motorists of having the luxury to ride expensive vehicles and sending their children to private schools, while all their own parents could afford were motorcycles and public universities.
The barricades also caused gridlock, while some motorists had to park their vehicles by the roadside out of frustration.
Some commuters, who could not bear with the gridlock, resorted to trekking.
NAN reports that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) office, Egbeda unit command, Ibadan, where a roadblock was also mounted, looked deserted.
Some of the motorists, who spoke with NAN, expressed their displeasure and frustration with the situation.
A motorist, Mr Azeez Adebayo, said he had been in the gridlock for close to five hours, passing different roadblocks after being made to cough out some money by the hoodlums.
An apparently frustrated Adebayo, who said that he left Osogbo around 8 am. and got to the expressway at 10.10 am, added that he was still in the gridlock as at 2.30 pm.
He said it had been very frustrating sitting for hours in a hot vehicle, while expressing the fear that the situation might degenerate into mayhem, if something urgent was not done by government.
NAN reports that none of the hoodlums were seen with any #EndSARS placard or poster.NAN
– Oct. 20, 2020 @ 17:10 GMT |
Tags: #EndSARS: Hoodlums take over Ilesha-Ife-Ibadan expressway extort motorists
