By Linus Aleke
There is pandemonium in Mararaba community, a border town with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as irate youths late yesterday blocked the entrance and exit point to Abuja following the inaction of the Nigeria Police Force to remove a decomposing corpse along the road.
The situation caused uncontrolled air pollution that drove residents crazy, leading to the unlawful act of blocking the national highway.
Traffic to and fro the FCT was brought to a static halt following the activities of yet-to-be-identified irate youths.
An investigation by this Nigeria revealed that the anger of the youths in the area leading to the blockade, followed the killing of yet to be identified man at Sharp Corner, in Mararaba, on Sunday.
A resident who spoke to ThisNigeria on condition of anonymity said that other residents are not expected to die along with the unknown man who was killed on Sunday along Abuja-Keffi Express Way.
“Our lives are in danger as the corps had swollen up and is polluting the environment. Health hazards associated with such stinky smell are better to imagine than experience. The action of the hoodlums is just to draw government attention to it so that the relevant authorities will be ordered to do their job since they don’t want to perform their duties.
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“Just a stone’s throw from the corps, personnel of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), are controlling the traffic, and personnel of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) is also visible alongside the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO).
“If it is to extort road users, they are professors, but carrying out their constitutional duties, in this instance became alien to them because there is no pecuniary interest. But they forgot that the resultant environmental pollution from their negligence is capable of throwing up a communicable pandemic,” he lamented.
A motorist, who was returning from work in FCT, Mr Madaki Usman, said that he had spent over two hours in the same spot because the traffic is not moving.
He doubted if he will be able to make it home to his Masaka home, as there is no end in sight.
A petty trader in the area, Miss Joy Eneh, said that the patrol team of Mararaba police station had been passing the corps but refused to evacuate it.
“The traffic jam and the confusion arising from it is unbearable but that is the only way to go. Our business has been brought to a halt. People are running helter-skelter because of this, the law enforcement agencies are wrong.
“They should have done the needful. Some people walked from Asokoro to Mararaba, because of this painful traffic. Why should citizens be subjected to this kind of painful experience because of the negligence of a government agency? That is unfortunate,” she posited.
A commuter and victim of the horrific incident, Mr. Ambrose Okpe said, I will never forget this tragic and ugly experience till I am lower down to the grave.
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“All my bodies from head to toe is paining me. What else will I tell you? I had called my wife to boil water for me so that when I get home she can massage me, if not I will not be able to go to work tomorrow.
“Initially I thought it was a bandit attack but when the story filtered in, we blessed God and dared to walk back home. I pity those heading to Keffi or beyond,” he added.
An effort to get the reaction of the authorities met a brick wall, as a call to the Police Public Relation Officer, Nasarawa State Police Command, was unsuccessful.
Also, the spokesperson of the FCT Police Command did not take her calls as of the time of filling this report.
Mararaba is the gateway to so many states in North-Central, South-South, and North-East.
