Ile-Ife sealed off by Nigerian Army [DETAILS, PHOTOS]

by Godwin Akanfe

The university town of Ile-Ife has been sealed off by soldiers of the Nigerian Army. Travellers who were hoping to beat this evening’s curfew met a rude shock as soldiers had sealed the town to travellers coming in from the Abuja end.

We were informed that the Ibadan end has been sealed off as well.

“Of course we knew that there will be a curfew this evening,” said Bolade Adeaga, a traveller en route Ibadan from Ondo, “and that’s why we are rushing to beat it. More so we didn’t expect this blockade on a federal road.”

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“They are punishing us in this country, ” wailed Ikechukwu, a trader who was hoping to make Lagos this evening.

An officer who was in charge of the troops pleaded with the sizeable crowd of angry travellers.

“Please it’s not our fault,” said the officer, “this blockade was necessitated by a tip-off on the movement of ammunition, and it will be lifted tomorrow evening.”

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Efforts to speak with the soldiers on the record were abortive as they are unauthorised to speak with the press.

The queue caused by the blockade stretched up to a kilometre. There was some anger among the crowd as a VIP convoy was allowed to proceed to Ife on the other side of the road.

Some travellers indicated that they will be going back to try their luck through  the Ore axis.

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Some travellers complained about exhausted funds, but these complaints did nothing to change the situation. However the soldiers let people who were willing to brave the journey on foot to go through.

Also, a lot of corpers are stranded in the traffic tailback. These corpers were headed to Irewole LGA where they are meant to be election officials tomorrow.

Impromptu holiday slows things down

An impromptu public holiday declared by the Osun State government in the dead of night has brought the state’s economy to a standstill.

This reporter saw a lot of people who went to their banks in Osogbo and Ilesha, only to be turned back because according to a First Bank official who declined to be named,  the state government declared a public holiday.

Banks in the state were originally scheduled to work a half day today as a federal imposed curfew comes into effect.

Comments (5)

  1. this ebola can be sorved by god it is the worl of god that come to pa tha if worlf want to come to eng all thing that not happend we shall be happene

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