Imannuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
Two passengers plying through Okene-Lokoja highway, were on Saturday, shot dead by armed robbers while a police man was injured on the leg.
The incident occured around 6pm in Osara, between Itakpe and the Kabba junction, leading drivers to abandon their vehicles while travellers were left stranded on the road.
It was gathered that the two victims that lost their lives were siblings, of Ebira extraction, who were resident in Katsina State.
They visited home and were on their way back to their station.
One of the travellers said that she arrived her Lokoja residence in the early hours of Sunday. The woman, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said she boarded from Lagos, where she had been since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, adding that they encountered heavy vehicular traffic between Berger in Lagos and Ibadan in Oyo State.
She added that their situation was further compounded when after the attack, the vehicle in which they were travelling developed mechanical fault.
According to her: “We boarded our vehicle from Lagos around 7am, but experienced heavy ‘go-slow,’ and not until after Ibadan, were we totally free from it.
We got to Osara after 6pm. Our driver was following closely behind the vehicle that was attacked.
Somewhere, the driver had to stop for a passenger who was pressed, to urinate, after which we saw oncoming motors flagging us to stop; that there was a robbery operation ahead.