A viral video circulating on social media has captured travellers stranded after floodwaters submerged a section of the Ore-Benin Expressway, disrupting movement and raising fresh concerns about the condition of one of Nigeria’s busiest highways.
In the footage, motorists and passengers were seen observing as floodwater engulfed part of the road, making it impassable.
“No be small thing,” one of the people recording the video exclaimed.
Another voice cautioned the cameraman, saying, “If they collect that phone from your hand.”
Others reacted in disbelief, repeatedly saying, “Omo!” and “Jesus Christ,” while a woman identified as the speaker’s wife appeared visibly shocked by the situation.
The video surfaced months after suspected kidnappers carried out a deadly attack on travellers along the Benin-Ore Expressway, adding to growing concerns over both security and safety on the major interstate route.
The attack reportedly occurred around midnight and targeted a Toyota Hummer bus belonging to Ibom Express Executive Travels Ltd, marked with fleet number 05/035/27.
According to eyewitness accounts and a viral video shared on X by Big Sman (@Mr_Sulaiman1), the gunmen opened fire on the moving vehicle, causing the driver to lose control before the bus veered into a nearby ditch.
A survivor, who reportedly hid in the bush until daybreak, said the bus had departed Onitsha in Anambra State and picked up additional passengers in Benin City before encountering the attackers.
Three passengers—two men and one woman—reportedly escaped by fleeing into the surrounding forest. However, the woman’s mother was said to have been among those abducted after the gunmen forced several passengers into the bush.
Footage from the aftermath showed the two male survivors attempting to open the vehicle’s boot while the young woman, whose mother was reportedly kidnapped, stood nearby in visible shock.
“This is the second time in less than two weeks they have killed a driver here,” a narrator in the video said. “Last Saturday, they killed a driver at this particular spot, and today they have killed another and kidnapped passengers.”
The incident highlighted the worsening security situation along major highways in Nigeria’s South-South region, where kidnappings for ransom have become increasingly common.
In a related incident, SaharaReporters recently reported that a commercial driver was shot dead while suspected kidnappers abducted three passengers from a GUO Transport bus along the Lagos-Benin Expressway in Edo State.
The Edo State Police Command confirmed the attack, stating that it occurred around 6 a.m. near the Iguobazuwa axis. The command’s spokesperson, CSP Moses Yamu, said preliminary investigations showed that the GUO bus, carrying five passengers, was ambushed by suspected kidnappers.
“During the attack, the driver was shot and fatally injured,” the police said, adding that a female passenger who sustained gunshot wounds was rescued and taken to hospital, where she was responding to treatment.
