Fear Grips Drivers, Traders as Highway Robbers Take Over Oyo-Kwara Border Road

• A crucial road connecting Oyo and Kwara states has become a death trap for travellers due to massive highway robberies
• Festive season, meant for celebration, took an unexpected turn, with robberies peaking and leaving victims with significant losses
• Victims speak to Legit.ng on the situation, making desperate pleas for immediate government action

Kwara state - Drivers and traders who regularly travel along the Ogbomosho-Ilorin Road have raised serious concerns over what they described as recurring and dangerous highway robberies in communities along the Oyo-Kwara border, which have threatened their daily means of livelihood.

Legit.ng gathered that the robberies have become frequent, especially during the darkest hours of the day, between 1 am and 5 am, with the criminals targeting commercial drivers and traders returning from major cities like Lagos.

The latest string of attacks reportedly peaked during the Eid-el-Kabir season, which was celebrated on Sunday, July 9, 2023. Many drivers and commuters said they were forced to spend nights at Ogbomosho before continuing their journey at daybreak to avoid running into armed gangs.

Victims share harrowing experience

Speaking to Legit.ng, one of the victims, a driver who simply identifies as Mr Bayo, who operates from Okolowo Park in Ilorin, recounted how he and his passengers were attacked on Friday before Eid celebration.

Bayo recounted his horrible experience:

“We were approaching the Gambari axis around 3 am when we saw them. They were armed and blocked the road with logs and tires."

He added:

“They collected everything — phones, cash, even food items. One of my passengers who was travelling to spend Sallah in Ilorin lost her bag containing over N300,000. It was scary.”

Another driver who prefers anonymity told Legit.ng that the robberies are so common that many transporters now deliberately avoid nighttime movement between Ogbomosho and Ilorin.

The driver said:

“Once it’s past midnight, nobody wants to take that road. Most of us sleep at Ogbomosho and continue by 6am.

“It’s worse around Otte in Asa Local Government and Gambari side in Oyo. The road is not safe at all.”

Traders recount how robbers target them

Several traders who travel to Lagos to restock goods for their stores in Ilorin said the robbers had also targeted them.

Recounting her ordeal, a trader, Alhaja Rukayat, also shared with Legit.ng her experience coming back from Lagos. She said:

“I went to Lagos to buy food items and fabrics for Sallah sales. On our way back, they stopped us around 4am near Otte. I lost all my goods, valued at approximately N500,000. They even beat one of our boys who tried to hide his phone.”

The drivers and residents are now calling on the Kwara state government and relevant security agencies to deploy patrol teams to the troubled stretch of road urgently.

“We need the government to act fast. They should put proper security on that road. It's not just during Sallah. Robberies have been happening even before and they still continue now,” one of the said.

Meanwhile, some drivers claimed that there was a time when some military personnel were deployed to that axis, and the road was free from robbers because the soldiers always patrolled, making the road very safe from their attacks.

Moreover, Legit.ng learned that an accident that occurred in January 2023 led to the gruesome death of two Nigerian Air Force officers (NAF). Since then, commuters and residents said the axis has been without any security operatives, leaving them at the mercy of the highway robbers.

Heavy gunshots erupt on Nigerian highway

In another report, the Ogun state police command announced that five suspected kidnappers were killed in a police operation on the popular Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

In a statement on Wednesday, January 30, signed by its spokesperson, Omolola Odutola, the police said that on Saturday evening, January 25, the area commander, Sagamu, received a distress call from commuters travelling along the Sagamu-Ijebu Ode Expressway about an ongoing armed robbery near Ilishan, Ogun state.

"Acting swiftly, the Area Commander mobilised a crack team of officers to the scene," the police said.

Source: Legit.ng