Tanker drivers protested against alleged extortion in Owerri, the Imo State Capital, yesterday, a development that grounded government and business activities in Owerri, the state capital.
The drivers, who blocked Owerri-Onitsha and Owerri-Port Harcourt ends of the roads, thereby preventing vehicles coming into the town from both ends. They demanded the presence of Governor Hope Uzodimma, to assuage the situation.
They said they were protesting against illegal collection of fees from them despite pronouncements from the state government that they should be left alone.
But Uzodimma travelled to Abidjan for the Economic Growth summit in Cote d’ Voire. Efforts to disperse the protesters failed, as several vehicles from Onitsha, Anambra State and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, could not gain entrance to the state due to the blockage of the roads.
