Vehicular movement was brought to a screeching halt along the Onisere axis of the Benin-Ore expressway as armed robbers killed drivers of Young Shall Grow Motors and Blessed Ezenwata.
The protesting drivers blocked all inbound and outbound traffic for over 10 hours causing unprecedented traffic gridlock.
They insisted on being addressed by Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and the Commissioner of Police on what is being done to assure them of their safety.
According to the drivers, the spot of the robbery attack was just immediately after a military checkpoint on the road.
They stressed that despite the closeness, no help came to the hapless victims for the over one and a half hours when the operation lasted.
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The robbers were said to have carried out the operation in a brand new Toyota Sienna SUV, with which they made their escape after robbing six passengers, The Nation reports.
The Sienna has registration number LSR 354GK, while the luxurious buses, belongs to The Young Shall Grow and Ezenwata.
The names of the dead drivers were identified as Francis Duru and Sunday Wahwa.
According to the driver of the Sienna, who spoke under anonymity, the robbery operation started at about 2 am, when the robbers snatched his vehicle after robbing all the passengers in the vehicle.
He said the robbers thereafter used the vehicle to block the road, adding on sighting them, the driver of one of the luxury buses tried to escape and in the process, he was shot point-blank with a bullet piercing his heart.
He explained that the robbers forced the driver’s door of The Young Shall Grow Motors open but the driver resisted.
This made the robbers to shoot him with one of the bullets shattering his hand, while another lodged in his heart killing him instantly while some of the passengers were robbed at gunpoint, others jumped out of the window into a nearby bush.
One of The Young Shall Grow Motors drivers, who spoke on anonymity, said they have reported the incident to their management.
He added that two drivers have been sent from their head office to evacuate the vehicles to their head office.
