Thousands of travellers were on Monday stranded for 14 hours at the Marabar Jos end of Zaria-Kaduna highway, following the total blockade of the road by drivers of articulated vehicles.
The drivers were protesting the alleged shooting of one of them by soldiers over a N200 bribe.
The soldiers were said to have shot the driver on his two legs about 11 pm on Sunday night after an argument.
The blockade stretched to about 20 kilometers from Marabar Jos to NTI, preventing motorists from states in the North-West coming into Kaduna.
Motorists from Kano to Kaduna as well as those going out of Kaduna were caught up in the gridlock.
Meanwhile some of the commuters had resorted to trekking, while those unable to proceed were seen laying about in the bushes awaiting an end to the impasse.
The drivers had remained adamant, insisting that they would not remove the blockade until they get concrete assurance from Governor Nasiru El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State that those involved would be brought to book.
The Chairman of the articulated drivers in the state, Alhaji Musa Danazumi, said that the driver who was shot had been taken to St Gerard hospital in Kaduna for medical attention.
Danazumi said that the soldiers vacated the check point after the incident.
“We are now talking to our members to be patient and remove the road block to reduce the hardship to motorists,” he said.
The spokesman of the Police Command in the state, Zubairu Abubakar said that a complaint had been lodged to the police on the shooting.
He assured that policemen had been drafted to the scene to maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, the blockade ended about 1pm after 14 hours stand-off, which disrupted the journey of thousands of motorists.
The General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigeria Army, Major-General Kenneth Osuji and the Chairman of the state Branch of National Union of Road Transport Workers, agreed that the affected driver be moved to the Airforce Hospital for proper medical attention.
The GOC, who was represented, agreed with the transport workers to enhance relations with soldiers deployed to the road to avoid a repeat of the incident.
They also agreed to conduct thorough investigation on the incident and punish anyone found culpable.
