The National Union of Road Transport Workers (Heavy Truck), Plateau State Council, has urged the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to put an end to the senseless killings of their members by suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in the Southeast.
The union made the call during a peaceful demonstration at the Laranto truck terminal in Jos, Plateau State Capital.
Addressing a press conference, the truck drivers, the NURTW state coordinator, Janedu A. Zaki, said so far more than “50 drivers were killed by the terrorists.”
According to him, many of their members are still missing, and hundreds of trucks were either burned, damaged, or forcefully taken away in the past eight years.
Mr Zaki said: “Between January and December 2024 alone, in the communities of Ehobey, Okigwe, Isoche, and Ehobey local government areas of Imo State, more than 20 drivers were brutally killed, and their trucks were either burned or damaged. During these incidents, some corpses were recovered while others remain missing.”
The truck drivers further said that on January 28, 2025, four of their members: Haruna Jibrin, Bala Muhammad, Dalladi Jafaru and Auwal Muhammad, carrying tomatoes to Port Harcourt were attacked between Lobanta community in Imo State and Umuahia in Abia State, and killed and the goods in their trucks looted.
The union added that the perpetrators filmed the empty truck and sent the videos to the union, boasting about their heinous crime.
“We are still trying to understand what offense we have committed to deserve this kind of barbaric killing,” they lamented.
According to the union, reports were made to the Police Area Command, the SSS office and the army military camp all in Okigwe, and also the police headquarters in Imo State command but, “up to this moment, we have not heard the whereabouts of their corpses and the trucks”
The truck drivers, therefore, demanded thorough investigations, increase in security presence by both the affected state and federal governments, as well as justice for all their victims.
The union, therefore, threatened to suspend transportation of goods to the southeast if the atrocities continue.
“We are drawing the attention of the federal government to the fact that the activities of IPOB are a threat to sustainable peace in the country.
“We urge the federal government, particularly President Bola Tinubu, the National Security Adviser, Chief of Defense Staff, Chief of Army Staff, and Inspector General of Police, to take drastic measures to put an end to these senseless killings and destruction of property.
“This level of brutality and disregard for human life is unacceptable, and we demand justice for our members,” they urged.
