Date: 2021-03-02

Business operators in Kwara and neighbouring states have heaved a sigh of relief as free movement of goods and traffic has been achieved after some hoodlums reportedly blocked the Ilorin-Jebba expressway at the weekend.

It was reported at the weekend that truckloads of food items from the northern parts of the country were denied entry into Kwara State and other states of the South West.

Tribune Online investigation had revealed that some Hausa youths, stationed at outskirts of Niger State, popularly called Kara-Jebba, near Jebba in Kwara State, between last Thursday and Friday, stopped many truck drivers carrying food items such as tomatoes, beans, yams, cattle, pepper among others, from going further from Kara into Kwara and other states in the South West or they are asked to turn back.

The situation, it was gathered, saw the trucks being parked along the road, creating heavy gridlock, while it was reported that some of the food items got spoilt.

However, it was gathered that free movement of goods and vehicles resumed on Ilorin-Jebba expressway early Monday morning to the joy of residents and business people on the axis.

Speaking with Tribune Online in Ilorin on Monday, a son of the traditional ruler of the ancient Jebba town, Prince Ibrahim Adebara, said that a troop of military operatives drafted by the federal government effected the free movement.

Prince Adebara, who said that the military personnel had stationed along the road to maintain law and order, added that they threatened to treat anyone that blocks the road as a terrorist.

Also speaking, one of the affected traders, Madam Asiawu Balogun, said she was happy with the return of normalcy. She, however, lamented loss caused by some perishable items that got bad while the situation lasted.

The Defence Headquarters, in a statement at the weekend by its acting director Defence information, Brigadier-General Onyema Ugochukwu, said it had cleared the Jebba-Kaduna road of those preventing trucks from going to the South and restored normalcy there.

"This is also to give a stern warning to any unscrupulous group or persons who are aiming at disrupting legitimate economic and commercial activities by preventing free flow of traffic and movement of goods in a bid to generate clashes along ethnic divides to desist from such unpatriotic acts or face the wrath of the law.

"Members of the public are also urged to promptly report anyone found engaged in such atrocious activities to security operatives," the statement had said.