UGM Kill Two Truck Drivers, Burn Vehicles in Imo State

Two truck drivers were killed in a violent attack by unidentified gunmen at Ogi Junction in Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo State over the weekend. The assailants set the truck, which was loaded with gari, on fire—burning both the vehicle and the victims’ bodies.

The Imo State chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) confirmed the incident. Dahiru Musa, the union chairman in Okigwe, said he immediately informed security agencies after learning of the attack. He said soldiers and the Divisional Police Officer of Okigwe visited the scene and helped evacuate the corpses. “The police and I evacuated the bodies to a hospital, and on Monday, we offered them funeral prayers and buried them,” he stated.

Mahmud Jafaru, spokesperson for the NURTW Heavy Truck unit at Laranto Motor Park in Jos, identified the victims as Haruna Muhammad and Adamu Ibrahim. He explained that the truck had loaded gari in Ayangade and was en route to Port Harcourt when the ambush occurred. Jafaru decried the frequency of such attacks on northern drivers. “Drivers from the North have become valued less than human beings. They are killed at will,” he said. “As long as you are a driver from the North, you don’t have rest of mind until you get to Port Harcourt.”

He urged the government to act decisively, warning that the union has suffered significant losses, including the deaths of numerous drivers and the destruction of trucks worth millions of naira.

As of the time of this report, the Imo State Police Command has not issued an official statement on the incident.