Officers of the Nigeria police Force In Edo state command kept watch at the Sapele By- Pass road in Benin City Edo state as youth in the state blocked the federal government road for six days.
Sources said the protest was sustained as the youth from various communities allegedly received financial support from traders and community members who were levied N5000 each to keep the protesters on the road in their bid to force the state and federal governments to fix the bad road.
It was gathered that the Federal Road Management Agency FERMA carried out palliative repair on the road but the youth continued blockage on the road inward and outward Benin City for days thereby subjecting travellers to long hours of traffic snarl.
It was learnt that the policemen from the the LoveWorld Division One and other policemen from the Area command ensured that hoodlums do not hijack the protest as the police are stationed there from morning till night.
It was learnt that the protest started on November 22nd at about 07: 30am when , the Sapele By Pass area after the bridge the road inward and outward Benin was completely blocked by the youth for more than ten hours.
The Ogheghe junction off Sapele road was also blocked.The road was later opened for vehicular movement at 7pm that day.On Wednesday the road was also blocked at about the same time and later reopen at about 8pm . On Thursday the road was also blocked in the early morning and reopen at about 11pm.On Friday the road was also blocked at about same time and reopen at night.
It was gathered that on Saturday 27th November at about 8. 20pm, the Youth came out again and blocked the road as usual.Although the Youth were not violent .
A resident in the area who requested anonymity said " At about 11: 00am, FERMA came with a payloader for the grading of the road and work is still on to cover the fail portion on the road. Army check point is situated where the protest and blockage of the road is being carried out. Police visibility is also high for close monitoring of the protesters activities for it not to be hijacked by hoodlums.Work on the road is still on. The Area is calm but motorists are suffering".
It was gathered that the governor of Edo State Mr. Godwin Obaseki later came at about 5pm on Monday to address the Youth and promised to fixed the fail portion of the road.The road was later reopen on Monday .
The youth it was learnt opened the road and work commenced with repair work starting from RCC portion of the Sapele road by the State Government
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