From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna
No fewer than 2,000 youths under the umbrella of National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) yesterday blocked Suleja-Minna highway to protest the deplorable state of federal roads (Trunk A) across the state.
The youths who carried placards with various inscriptions and chanting antigovernment slogans barricaded the Chanchaga bridge depriving all kinds of vehicles from plying in and out of the ever busy 98 kilometers Minna- Suleja highway.
It was reliably gathered that the protest runs concurrently as the Bida-Minna and Minna Kontagora roads were also blocked.
The protest that started as early as 6:35am left hundreds of travelers, students, workers and many others stranded along the road at Chanchaga for hours.
Consequently, the well-coordinated protests also saw the blockade of Bida-Minna, and Minna-Tegina to Kontagora highways.
The coordinator of the Minna-Suleja axis protest, Mohammad Saidu Etsu who said, “we will not stop this protest the roads until the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola comes to address them.”
Meanwhile, interventions by the Nigerian Army, Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) could not succeed as the youths insisted on their agitation chanting antigovernment songs.
The police fired teargas canisters at about 9:45am to disperse the youths but the youths retaliated by throwing stones at the military and security agencies.
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