When in November 2010, 62-year-old Mrs Ihekoro received a telephone call from one of her sons in the United States of America informing his decision to come spend the just celebrated Christmas and new year in Nigeria, she looked forward with great expectation. Then the D-day eventually came with the excitement of seeing her son bubbling inside her. She set out in another of her son’s car on a Sunday to meet the US returnee in a hotel around Festac area, where she embraced him with tears of joy rolling down her cheeks. The family talked long into the night, until mama as she is fondly called ,was informed on the need to return back to her other son’s home.

However on their journey back to the Low Cost Housing Estate Oke-Afa, an incident that would forever remain indelible in Mrs Ihekoro’s life occurred at Chemist bus-stop, along Okota road. Two armed men as gathered ,intercepted the Honda Accord vehicle in which was mama and her son simply identified as Joshua.

The robbers said to have pointed a gun at Joshua who was driving, reportedly ordered both of them down. Effort by the car snatchers who apparently laid ambush for unsuspecting motorists plying the route to put Joshua inside the booth of the car met his resistance. They thereafter, zoomed off, leaving the perplexed mother and son to their fate.

Shocked and speechless, the 62-year-old woman rushed to the Isolo Police division, Okota, where she reportedly fell on the ground , screaming. A man later identified as the Divisional Police Officer was said to have rushed out, only to be greeted with rhetorical questions from the wailing woman.

The good news is that the vehicle was recovered hours later by the Police, after a prolonged gun fire with the four-man robbery gang at Ijesha, at the end of which two members of the robbery gang were killed, while the rest managed to escape in their operational vehicle.

Mama who still finds it difficult to come to terms with the whole scenario of that fateful day is however amazed at what she described as an act of gallantry on th e part of the policemen, informing that not only was the stolen vehicle recovered but that every other things including their bags, telephones and foreign currencies given to her by her son were all intact.

After much silence, the family recounted the genesis to revelation of how their car was recovered. For Joshua who witnessed it all, he had this to say, “ I am still speechless at what happened that night. When I got to the Police station with my mother at about 10.pm, the DPO on hearing our case, asked which direction the robbers went and we pointed to Cele . Quickly, he detailed two armed policemen to come with him. He also asked me to join them in order to be able to identify the vehicle if found.

We entered into a private car which was later discovered to be the DPO’s personal vehicle and headed towards Cele. We took through Ijesha and combed the whole vicinity but did not see the vehicle. We then went to turn from coconut, heading back. I had already lost hope when suddenly at Sanya, my Honda Accord vehicle sped past us. I then shouted, ‘that is the car! Immediately, we followed the vehicle until it branched off at Ijesha.

Just then, a commercial bus that was about reversing, stopped at the middle of the road, causing other vehicles including my stolen car to slow down. One of the policemen then came down from our vehicle to arrest driver of the stolen vehicle”

But that singular move let the cat out of the bag, as sounds of gun shots greeted the move from behind. Unknown to the policemen, the bandits had another operational vehicle behind them, in which were other members of the gang. The gun shots jostled the policeman that had intended to arrest the bandits inside the stolen vehicle as he took cover. The shots also caused pandemonium in the busy area as other road users took to their heels including the commercial bus that was making u-turn..

Continuing, Joshua said, “ At that point, my heart was in my mouth because nobody expected that. The policemen also opened fire, thereby turning the whole place into a war front, with bullets flying from front and back.

I dodged behind the policemen as they jumped out of the car to a place they used as defense, from where they continued shooting. Suddenly, my stolen car lost control and ran into the gutter from where we heard a groaning. Having got those inside the stolen car, the policemen concentrated on the vehicle behind and at the same time started making calls for re-enforcement. The shooting lasted close to an hour and all that while I was just praying to God to spare our lives.

Not too long, I saw other police patrol vans coming from Ijesha expressway. By then the DPO and his men had gunned down two members of the gang that were inside my stolen vehicle. By the time the whole dust settled, it was past midnight. For the first time in my life, I want to confess that the Nigeria Police actually lived beyond my perception of them”

His vehicle which was later towed from the gutter according to him, was handed over to him after some days. For mama, words according to her could not express her gratitude first to God and to the police. “ Indeed I now know that the Police is our friend”