Lokoja-Abuja road blocked as Abuja residents leave in droves (once again, is it war or elections?)

Posted by admin Abuja (FCT), Headlines, Nasarawa, State News Friday, March 27th, 2015

The Lokoja-Abuja Expressway was on Friday at a standstill for many hours as voters make their way from the Federal Capital Territory to various parts of the country for the March 28 poll.

The Lokoja end of the road, our correspondent observed, was blocked for more than 10 hours with men of the Federal Road Safety Corps battling to ensure a thoroughfare for the numerous vehicles.

Our correspondent observed that the gridlock was limited to the state capital as many voters arrived in the state capital from Abuja while others were moving out of Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.

Other roads like the Lokoja-Okene road and Lokoja-Ajaokuta road were free.

A female traveller, Comfort Uwazie, said she came home to rest.

“I work in Abuja and I hardly have time to come home. After voting, I will rest a little before going back on Monday.

“I voted in 2011 and my candidates won, this time around we need change,” she said.

A roadside tyre trader, Moses Okafor, told our correspondent that the road was not free the previous day.

“It was like this yesterday too, people are travelling out of Lokoja while the vehicles coming from the Abuja side too seem to have increased, that is why this place is jammed like this,” he said.

Our correspondent also observed that vehicles, whose engines had stopped in the traffic, added to the problem as they were being pushed out of the road by other road users.

An official of the FRSC, whose name tag read Y. Muhammed, said the vehicles’ engines stalled because their cooling system had developed faults.

He added, “The fault isn’t really from the drivers. Too many hours of staying in traffic can contribute to the development of faults in the vehicles’ engines.

“We are making all efforts to get the road cleared. This traffic is as a result of more vehicular pressure from the Abuja end and also with more people leaving Lokoja to other parts of Kogi state.”

Efforts to get the sector commander of the FRSC in Kogi State proved abortive.

-Punchwp_posts