Newspaper vendors in Awka, Anambra capital have decried the stoppage of vehicles conveying newspapers from Lagos to the state at River Niger Bridgehead, Onitsha on Saturday. The vehicles were barred from moving to and from the Head Bridge Onitsha in the early hours of Saturday by security operatives.

Though the reason for the closure was not communicated to the public, a source told NAN that the action followed the alleged killings of some military personnel at Ihiala area by gunmen in the wee hours of May 29. Miss Nneka Okoye, a vendor at Aroma junction, Awka said the situation totally dislodged them from business.“ We are surprised to face this kind of problem this morning, as you can see, there is no Saturday paper on display here now.“ The distributors told us that the vehicles carrying newspapers were stopped at Bridgehead, Onitsha because of issues the military had with people at Ihiala”, Okoye said. NAN gathered that apart from vehicles carrying newspapers, others were equally blocked from moving in and out of Onitsha in the early hours of today. But an eye witness said that the military opened the bridge for traffic at about 12 noon on Saturday. When contacted, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Anambra State command said the early morning gridlock at the head bridge was as a result of stringent checks by security operatives there. According to Ikenga, the measure is meant to track bad elements. On the killing of military at Ihiala, the PPRO said he could not speak on that as information at his disposal was sketchy, but however, confirmed that  there was report of civil disorder in the area .On the IPOB Sit-at-home, the directive was not effective in Awka, as people were seen going about their normal business. Enugu State is also calm as people were seen going about their businesses after the expiration of the monthly sanitation observed in the state. (NAN)