By Towncriernews
A 45 year-old artist, Balogun Omokhafe from Ekpesa in Akoko-Edo local government area of Edo State on Monday completed a four days trek from Akoko-Edo local government area to Benin City, the state capital in protest of dilapidated state of the Igarra–Ibillo section of the Auchi–Ibillo road.
Omokhafe also known as Hakuzion, lamented that the bad state of the road has made it easy for kidnappers to pick people easily, adding that from a conservative statistics, not less than 100 people have been kidnapped in the axis and many deaths recorded citing the case of the Ward I Labour Party (LP) chairman, Okasime Olowojoba who has been kidnapped for over four months and he is yet to be seen.
Narrating his experience to journalists, he said “I am from Ekpesa in Akoko-Edo local government area. I am an artist, I trekked from Auchi to Benin. The journey started from Ibillo but because of the rain, I took a vehicle to Auchi and started the trekking from there to Benin to see the governor in the Government House.
“The reason for this trek is about the bad road from Auchi to Ibillo especially from Igarra to Ibillo axis which has become a death trap to our people.
“You can’t travel along that road and bid your family a proper farewell because you may not return.
“From a rough estimate, over 100 people have been kidnapped on that road and many killed. The Ward I Labour Party (LP) chairman in Akoko-Edo has been kidnapped on that road for the past four months and till date, he has not been seen.”
On whether he was not scared of dangers along the way, he said “This trek took me four days to get to Benin, what we have been facing in Akoko-Edo conquered the fear I would have had on the way to Benin
“We want the government to look into the Auchi–Igarra road and fix it for us. We know the governor is a hard working governor, I even saw some of the works he is doing while on my way trekking to Benin we need his support to save us from the kidnappers because the road is not good, those kidnappers will not be able to operate there if the road is good.”