The Defence Headquarters, DHQ, yesterday, pleaded with commuters along the Keffi-Abuja highway for understanding, stressing that they would continue to suffer the present level of traffic gridlock until it has secured necessary equipment and support to ease it.
The military had mounted the checkpoint to screen vehicles going into the city centre at Kugbo, after Nyanya and Karu, sequel to the bomb blast at Nyanya, a few kilometers from Abuja.
The blast claimed 75 lives and left scores with injuries.
The gridlock has left commuters groaning as they waste more resources and time daily on that road in effort to go to their workplaces or businesses.
As the gridlock continued yesterday, a civil servant, Anthony Michael, who said that he spent over four hours in the traffic from Mararaba, said government was making efforts to secure the city, while the suburb suffered the blast and residents are subjected to untold pains.
However, the DHQ in a statement signed by its Director of Defence Information, DDI, Major General Chris Olukolade, said the security check was not intended to punish commuters.
“The traffic gridlock on Nyanya-Abuja highway as a result of the ongoing checks on vehicles coming into the city centre from that end has expectedly generated reactions and complaints from road users and the general public.
“The general public is assured that the measures are not punitive or deliberately meant to inconvenience road users.
“The actions are necessitated by the emerging security threats facing the nation, which calls for support and understanding of the populace.
If the gridlock must continue, there is need for our security men to be cautious of vehicles which may pretend breakdown only to wait for targets.