(As reported by HumAngle Media)
The Delta–Edo Federal Highway, a critical artery for trade in South-South Nigeria, has become a dangerous “corridor of terror” due to incessant kidnappings, forcing travellers to rely on prayer and creating a volatile environment where official security forces are often supplemented by—and sometimes clash with—vigilante groups.
The report by HumAngle Media detailed the harrowing experience of a traveller on the Onitsha–Asaba–Benin–Lokoja axis, who described the journey as a “life-threatening gamble” due to the constant threat of ambush.
Key Findings of the Report
- Travellers’ Trauma: Passengers on the route live in perpetual fear, relying on prayer, vigilance, and the driver’s desperate survival strategies (such as speeding past suspicious spots) as armed groups often operate with impunity.
- Security Vacuum and Ethnic Suspicion: The highway is plagued by both legitimate and fake police checkpoints, which offer little comfort. The trauma of being attacked or witnessing an attack often fuels suspicion and ethnic profiling against specific groups, deepening social fracture in the region.
- Vigilante Response: Vigilante groups have proliferated in Delta and Edo States, stepping in to fill the security void. While some communities credit them with reducing crime, the report notes that these unregulated groups also face accusations of abuse and killings, with reports indicating they have been implicated in at least 68 deaths across Nigeria within three months.
- Shifting Threat: Delta State’s recent “data-driven, technology-enhanced anti-kidnapping strategy” has seen some success in reducing crime within its borders. However, this pressure has primarily displaced the gangs, shifting the centre of the threat to Edo State, where the violence has reportedly worsened.
- Human and Economic Toll: The ongoing insecurity has forced farmers to abandon fields and traders to avoid the road, leading to massive economic costs, in addition to the human tragedy of shattered families and ransom demands.
The situation leaves communities in a state of resilient uncertainty, where every safe arrival on the Delta–Edo highway is, in itself, a survival story.
