Protesting drivers of various articulated vehicles, including lorries, tankers and tippers blocked the Niger Bridgehead in Onitsha on Saturday, 18th June 2022.
They said they were protesting extortion by naval officers operating on the bridge, who insist on collecting N1,000 bribe from them.
The driver’s however decided to block the road on Saturday morning, after a naval officer shot and punctured the tyres of a lorry because the driver refused to pay an N1,000 bribe.
As at 10 am that Saturday, the entire stretch of the Onitsha-Enugu expressway was blocked for hours by lorries drivers, protesting the treatment of their colleagues.
Some members of the union who spoke anonymously said, “Men of the Nigerian Navy at the Uga junction, Onitsha have an issue with our driver, which they claimed led to the shooting of his vehicle tyre.
“Our fellow drivers on seeing such ill-treatment decided to park their vehicles and requested that the punctured tyre must be replaced, that is why there is protest here.”.
Later, some concerned individuals and naval officers tried to negotiate with the lorry drivers to make them open the road to motorists.
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