EXCLUSIVE: 'We Carry Dead Bodies On Motorcycles': Food Rots, Patients Die As Collapsed Road Isolates Ebonyi Community

For the residents of Obeagu, an agrarian border community in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, living near the boundary of Enugu and Ebonyi states feels less like a geographic feature and more like a sentence to isolation.

Surrounded by fertile farmlands and rich agrarian heritage, the community is currently held hostage by a singular, suffocating crisis: the total collapse of its access roads.

What should be a short journey to nearby markets, schools, or hospitals has turned into an agonizing struggle through deep, treacherous mud channels, threatening the lives, livelihoods, and dignity of over thousands of residents.

For the people of Obeagu community, every journey has become a gamble with death. Pregnant women risk losing their babies before reaching hospitals. Sick residents are carried on motorcycles through deep mud in desperate attempts to access medical care.

Farmers watch tonnes of food rot because buyers cannot reach their farms. Schoolchildren trek through dangerous paths to attend classes, while many teachers posted to the community simply refuse to report for duty.

During the rainy season, residents say those who die outside the community are sometimes left in mortuaries until the dry season because vehicles cannot access the village for burial.

A visit by SaharaReporters exposed what residents described as decades of abandonment by successive governments, with the community’s only access road reduced to a trail of deep gullies, flooded craters, collapsed culverts and thick mud that has effectively cut thousands of people off from the rest of Ebonyi State.

The journey itself reflected the humanitarian crisis confronting the agrarian community.

The only available means of transportation was a commercial motorcycle. Even then, the rider repeatedly struggled to navigate the muddy terrain, swerving around deep pools of stagnant water and dangerously eroded sections where the road had virtually disappeared.

It took exactly one hour and 23 minutes to reach Model Comprehensive Secondary School, Obeagu, the community’s only secondary school, from the nearest point accessible by vehicles – Egedegede-Obeagu junction.

Throughout the journey, SaharaReporters observed commercial vehicles trapped in thick mud, with drivers abandoning attempts to continue. In several locations, tyre tracks had sunk deep into the earth, creating trenches capable of trapping vehicles. A collapsed culvert had exposed iron reinforcement beneath the road surface, forcing road users to manoeuvre through a dangerously narrow passage, while several sections had become ponds filled with muddy rainwater.

The condition of the road explains why ambulances, security agencies, commercial transporters, teachers and healthcare workers rarely venture into the community.

Ironically, the same road became a national concern in March 2021 after suspected herdsmen attacked Obeagu, killing 21, and subsequent attacks left three residents killed and seven kidnapped for ransom.

The massacre drew the attention of then Acting President and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, senior federal officials, as well as the then Governor of Ebonyi State and current Minister of Works, David Umahi, alongside other government representatives who visited the community.

Over five years later, residents say little has changed.

‘We Have Been Abandoned’

The Secretary-General of Obeagu Town Union, Mr Okechukwu Stanley Alu, said the poor road has become the community’s greatest source of suffering and nightmare.

“The truth remains that Obeagu has existed for a very long time without a road. But it became more painful after 21 of our people were killed in 2021,” he said.

According to him, despite assurances by government officials who visited after the attack, no intervention has been made.

“Since then, our people have continued to expect government intervention to ease our suffering, but nothing has happened. Instead, the road keeps getting worse every other year.

“We are calling on both the state government and the local government to come to our aid because there is virtually no government presence here.”

Stanley said the deplorable road has also crippled education in the community.

According to him, many teachers posted to Model Comprehensive School refuse to resume duty because of the difficult terrain despite receiving salaries.

“We have reported several cases to the education authorities, but nothing seems to have changed. The road is affecting the educational progress of our children.”

Also speaking, Assistant Secretary of the Town Union, Odo Austin, said the community’s economy has been severely affected because farmers cannot transport produce to markets.

“Our farm produce gets wasted because we have no good road to take them to bigger markets. Vehicles doesn’t come to the community especially in the rainy season. Even motorcycles struggle to reach this place,” he said.

He added that the poor road has also worsened healthcare delivery.

According to him, the community health centre lacks adequate personnel because many health workers refuse postings to the area.

“Our people have been losing their lives because there is no functional hospital. Before someone can be taken to a major hospital outside this community, they die on the way,” he said.

Austin warned that residents would demand firm commitments from politicians seeking votes ahead of the 2027 elections.

“Every election period they come with promises, but after winning they abandon us. This time, we will demand proof before giving anyone our votes.”

‘We Carry Dead Bodies On Motorcycles’

Former Councillor of Obeagu Ward, Hon. Eze Casmir Odo said repeated appeals to successive administrations, especially at the local government had yielded no results.

According to him, even requests for the construction of two culverts during his tenure in office were ignored by the then Chairman of Ishielu local government, claiming that there was no money.

Painting a sobering picture of the situation in the community, Odo said: “If you see how dead bodies are tied to motorcycles because vehicles cannot reach this community, you will pity us; you will even hate death. We are regarded as animals because we don’t have a road.

“We are suffering. Our farm produce remains inside our houses because we have no road to transport them.”

Community leader Chief Patrick Edeh confirmed that families often postpone burials during the rainy season because of the impassable road.

“You passed through the road yourself today. You have seen our suffering,” he said. “If somebody dies during the rainy season, burial may be delayed until the dry season because vehicles cannot reach the community.”

According to him, churches and residents occasionally undertake makeshift repairs, but political activities often erase whatever progress they make.

He urged the Ebonyi State Government and Ishielu Local Government Council to permanently reconstruct the road rather than making temporary interventions during election campaigns.

Corroborating, the traditional ruler of Obeagu, HRH Ezeogo Ephraim Okwor, described the road as the community’s most urgent priority.

According to him, although the community has a health centre, it requires government support, qualified personnel and additional facilities to serve residents effectively.

“The issue of road remains the most critical,” he said. “We need government support to make the health centre functional and expand it where necessary.”

For the people of Obeagu, the road is no longer merely an infrastructure deficit. It has become a humanitarian emergency that affects every aspect of life, from security and healthcare to education, agriculture and human dignity.

Residents say until the government intervenes, they will remain isolated from the rest of the country, despite paying taxes, voting in elections and repeatedly appealing for help.