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Barely three weeks after gunmen ambushed and shot two police inspectors on the same Ogobia-Adoka corridor, terror returned to the highway over the weekend with even deadlier consequences.
Suspected kidnappers waylaid a fully loaded commercial bus in the Otukpo Local Government Area, shot dead the driver on the spot, and marched every single passenger into the bush at gunpoint.
The driver has been identified as Arrow of God, a popular name in the transport circles, from Aila community in Agatu LGA. Eyewitnesses say the attackers emerged suddenly from the thick vegetation, forced the 18-seater bus off the road, and opened fire without warning. After confirming the driver was dead, they ordered the terrified passengers — men, women, and at least two children — to disembark and disappear with them into the surrounding forest.
As of this afternoon, no contact has been established with the abductors and none of the victims have been released. Their families are in anguish, and the entire stretch between Ogobia and Adoka now feels like a no-go area.
This latest attack is the second major incident on the same route in less than a month. On 27 October, suspected armed robbers opened fire on a police patrol team, killing Inspector Amos Okoh and Inspector Joseph Adowebo in broad daylight. That incident had already forced many commercial drivers to avoid the road after dusk; now even daytime travel is considered suicidal.
Residents of Otukpo, Ado, and Agatu tell the same story: the once-busy federal corridor has turned into a death trap. Commuters now leave home at dawn praying they make it to their destinations, while transport fares have skyrocketed as drivers factor in “risk allowance.”
Local voices are unanimous in their demand for immediate and sustained military presence along the corridor. “We are not asking for temporary checkpoints that disappear after two days,” one community leader in Otukpo told this blog. “We need a permanent outpost and constant patrols until these criminals are flushed out.”
The Benue State Police Command has confirmed the incident and says it has deployed tactical units to comb the area, but residents remain skeptical, pointing to the string of unsolved abductions and killings on that same road over the past year.
For now, the Ogobia-Adoka highway, a vital link between Benue and neighboring states, lies quiet — not out of peace, but out of fear. Travelers are left with an agonizing choice: risk the journey and possibly never return, or stay home and watch livelihoods collapse.
Until the government treats this corridor with the urgency it deserves, every trip remains a roll of the dice, and every family waits in dread for the next phone call that may never come.
