A petrol tanker driver has barricaded Gauraka junction along Abuja-Kaduna highway, Suleja, with his vehicle after military men unjustly assaulted him, FIJ can report.

FIJ understands that the military personnel suspected to have come from Abacha Baracks in Abuja were trying to overtake the tanker driver.

“The tanker driver was driving in his lane when the military Hilux hit his truck’s bumper while trying to overtake him,” an eyewitness told FIJ.

An officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) addressing the incident told FIJ the military men in mufti are naval officers. It was gathered that the military personnel were moving in a convoy. Two Hilux vehicles had overtaken the truck before the last one, whose driver miscalculated, hit the truck’s bumper.

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However, the military personnel blamed the truck driver, insisting he should fix their bumper which was damaged in the process.

This was after the truck driver had been “mercilessly beaten up at the scene of the incident,” another eyewitness said in confidence. “After he was beaten to a pulp, they instructed him to drive his tanker to Abacha Baracks, perhaps to further maltreat him.”

The manhandled driver, after driving a few kilometres from the scene of the incident, blocked the road with his tanker and ran for safety.

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“One of the three Hilux vehicles made a u-turn to the other lane at an adjoining roundabout to hunt the fleeing driver,” an eyewitness said.

At the time of filing this report, the Hilux vehicle and the fleeing driver had not returned to the crowded spot.

The incident which occurred at 1:30 pm has metamorphosed into hours of gridlock from Dikko to Gauraka junction, covering about 10 kilometres. 

It has also paused vehicular movement on the Abuja-Kaduna highway. Meanwhile, the other lane was congested, each vehicle finding a navigating route to their destination.

The soldiers parked by the road side, watching motorists suffer. One of them, fat and fit, sat on a parked motorcycle while others stood around him.

“What are you looking for,” he asked angrily when our reporter attempted to speak with him. Subsequently, he ordered him to vacate the scene.