Cattle dealers block Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway after gunmen kill one of their members

CATTLE dealers believed to be Fulani herdsmen from the Umuchieze market in Abia State blocked the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway yesterday to protest the killing of one of their members and some livestock earlier this month.

In a development that has created tension in the area, the herdsmen from Umuchieze cattle market in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State, caused a huge traffic jam with their protests. It was in response to the actions of gunmen who invaded an area where the herdsmen rear their livestock and killed one of their members and some cows.

During the protest, the protesters made bonfires and used trailers to barricade both lanes of the expressway as they urged the federal government to come to their aid. Attempts by some soldiers and policemen to clear the barricades failed as the protesting youths added some big sticks to the bonfire.

They later cleared a small part of the barricade to allow a military patrol van drive through the area. One of the stranded motorists who was on his way to Enugu, said that they had to turn back to Okigwe Junction and divert to the Uturu-Akaeze Road from where they got back to Ishiagu Junction on the expressway.

He said: “We were in a bus on the way to Enugu but when we got to Lokpanta, some people on the roadside waved at us shouting no road, no road. As we approached the cattle market, there was a heavy traffic build up with 200 vehicles.

"We had to turn back to Okigwe, at Ihube junction to the Uturu -Akaeze Road from where we got to Ishiagu Junction, Ebonyi State, on the expressway. The detour is a distance of approximately over 40 kilometres. All the stranded travellers had to take this route to get to Enugu.”

In response to the initial attack, the Abia State government demolished several suspected criminal hideouts at the cattle market. Of late, armed gunmen have been causing mayhem in cattle markets across the southeast geo-political zone, shooting 30 cows at Ugbawka in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State in January.