From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Soldiers and policemen, yesterday afternoon, busied themselves clearing barricades set up by youths to prevent free movement in several parts of Benin to enforce compliance with their protest.
At the King’s Square (Ring Road), organisers of the protest were seen in the struggling to fix the podium, as soldiers moved to remove barricades placed by youths at the different point of Sapele Road.
Similarly, the police were also at the Ramat- Auchi bypass road to remove barricades while they also dispersed those who resisted the move with canister. The situation was however different at Ekehuan Road where disallowed security men from removing the barricades until past 4.pm.
Commuters who travelled to Benin from other states had diffcult time accessing the as they were prevented by protesters who barricaded the entry points.
One of the stranded traveller who identified herself as Mercy, said she was held up at the Auchi bypass for several hours after arriving in Benin from Abuja early Thursday morning.
“It was a bad experience. We were held up at the Auchi bypass and to compound the problem, the vehicle bringing us to Benin broke down close to the byepass. A cab that I got on Friday morning said he would N3000 and I had to wait for a bus who collected N500 from each passenger from the bypass to Ramat from where i got another bus to Ring Road”, she said.
One of the leaders of the protest, Kola Edokpayi, said “the protest is going on successfully and other people have joined in from other parts of the city to ensure it remain peaceful”.