Benue: Protest rocks Otukpo over bad road, lack of electricity, water

Some aggrieved youths, on Tuesday, took to the major roads in Otukpo to protest what they called lack of basic amenities in the ancient town.

IDOMA VOICE reports that Otukpo, a major town in Benue State, have been wallowing in lack of electricity, water scarcity, and especially bad roads which have earned the town the mockery slogan of “Red dust city”.

Venting their anger on the issue, the aggrieved youths who stormed the major road in the town, Enugu-Makurdi expressway (which has now been washed away – with just red sands left), lamented the poor state of infrastructure in the town.

Some of they were seen bearing placards which read “No road, No light, no water”.

They matched along the road chanting solidarity songs and burning tyres.

The burning of tyres, IDOMA VOICE learnt, caused a gridlock in the town.

The Vice Chairman of Otukpo Local Government Mr. Bako, who addressed the youths at Obanganya, regretted that the youths didn’t inform the relevant authorities before the protest.

He advised that since the protest is a peaceful one, the youths should drop the placards and vacate the streets to allow government act on their request to avoid a situation of hoodlums hijacking it to perpetrate violence.

He said the chairman of Otukpo Local Government, Hon. George Alli, sends his words across to the youths, and that he feels their pains, because the scarcity of water is affecting everybody in Otukpo Local Government and in no distance time something would be done about it.