22nd April, 2014
Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
One week after the Nyanya, Abuja bomb blasts that left scores of people dead, commuters on the axis of the capital city affected have continued to battle with traffic gridlock as a result of a check point mounted on the Abuja-Keffi Expressway by soldiers.
The check point was mounted last Thursday at the Kugbo end of the busy expressway which links settlements like Masaka, Mararaba, New Nyanya, Keffi and other areas which though geographically in Nassarawa State are mostly inhabited by those who work or do business inside Abuja city.
The expressway is also the major link to states in the North central and North eastern part of the country. The situation was the same in spite of the public holiday Monday.
The gridlock has also led to unprecedented traffic on all the inner roads through which motorists joined to the expressway. Many commuters and motorists returning to work were also caught in the traffic jam on Tuesday morning.
To avoid getting late to work, some commuters and motorists said they woke up very early to hit the road, but still encountered the gridlock. “I have to wake up and leave home as early as 5 am today to ensure I get to my office on time. Yet, I still spent over two hours for a journey that normally should not take 30 minutes,” Attah Emmanuel, a businessman told P.M.NEWS.
Another commuter who identified himself as Sola said he had to park his car when the traffic situation became unbearable. To beat the gridlock, some commuters are patronising commercial motorcyclists who took them near the check point.
They walk past the checkpoint and continue walking until they can get a vehicle to board. “I have to board a bike to the foot of Karu bridge from where I trekked past the soldiers and walked for some minutes until I got a kind hearted man who just left the traffic gridlock who gave me a ride to town,” Sanni Abubakar, a trader told P.M.NEWS.
Some of the commuters described the setting up of the check point as unnecessary punishment for commuters and those living in the axis of the city over last Monday’s bomb blast.
“You can imagine. What did we do to deserve this? Is this a way of telling us they did not care if those living in this area are bombed as long as the bombers cannot get to the city,” Mrs Godwin Afe who said she had spent three hours trying to negotiate her way out of the traffic said.
Mohammed Bala, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory told journalists that something will be done about the gridlock last week. But the situation continues to worsen.