By Esther Onyegbula

A 31-year-old graphic artist and events manager, Ajewole Gideon Olugbenga, who fell victim to robbery inside a commercial bus in Lagos has narrated how the ugly incident took place in the evening hours of May, 2014.  The Osun State-born man who gave a graphic account of the incident also lamented that he was abandoned by a team of policemen on patrol after the attack.

One-Chance-Victim–Ajewole-

According to him, the incident occurred after close of work at about 7pm, after he boarded a commercial bus at LASU bus-stop in Ojo, heading towards Badagry round-about when he and four other passengers inside the commercial bus were pushed out of the moving vehicle, apparently for another vehicle to hit them.

Olugbenga explained that he was the second to the last passenger that boarded the commercial bus that was almost filled up. From the point where he boarded the bus to when he and others were pushed out of the moving vehicle remains blank in his memory till this moment.

According to him, “Five of us, including an elderly woman in her late 60s were pushed out of the moving vehicle before the pedestrian bridge at Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, AOCOED, along Badagry Expressway. I became conscious that something terrible had happened, after I was pushed out of the moving vehicle.

Awakened by the awful pains of my fractured legs and arms, I realized that my wallet, my laptop (HP brand), my tablet computer (Blue Flick) had all disappeared. Stranded, we started shouting for help but there was no response because the place was dark and deserted.  Apart from five of us who were pushed out of the bus, I don’t know what happened to the other passengers in the bus, I don’t know if they were part of the one-chance syndicate or not, or what eventually happened to them.

Abandoned by Policemen on routine patrol
According to him,“About three minutes later, I felt help had come our way when a Police van with officers and men on routine patrol stopped nearby. They asked  what had happened to us and I told them everything.
Then, their team leader said in Yoruba that “they have shown these ones how Lagos is”.

Immediately he and his men drove off without assisting us to the nearest bus-stop even when there was still space in the van that could accommodate the five of us.

“We were still there calling for help, when another car, a Camry, pulled over. The driver, a clergyman assisted and drove us to Agbara after we narrated everything that had happened to him. When we got to Agbara, we all alighted and he gave me N100 to enable me board vehicle to the house. At the bus stop, no commercial bus allowed us to board because our clothes were torn and dirty. Finally, I managed to board a bus which took me to Limca Bus Stop where I finally alighted and went home.

“Still in shock after I got home, I dialed my phone numbers and it rang and someone picked, I pleaded with the person that I needed my laptop because it contained all the designs and jobs I have done in the past six years as a graphic artist. Realizing how badly I needed the computer, they promised to give me back my Laptop. They asked me to come to Iyanera bus stop by 7pm with N30, 000 the next day.

Unknown to them, I went with a friend. When we got to Iyanera bus stop, we kept calling them, they refused to pick the call, we called till about 9pm when they picked and asked me to come to Cassidy bus stop. When we got there, I called them and that was when they attacked me again.

Unfortunately, they were unable to take the N30, 000 which was with my friend. Since then, they switched off the phone. I became unconscious after the second attack, so my friend took me to the hospital where I spent a week on admission, before I regained consciousness.

“While I was in the hospital, a concerned colleague who felt I was missing reported at the Police station after several days of not seeing, hearing or knowing my whereabouts. Later, she received a call to come and pick my wallet which was found in a commercial cab. Immediately she alerted the police who picked up some of the suspects at Mosalashi bus stop. The case was reported to the Police, and is currently being investigated,” he stated.

Police sources intimated Crime Alert that this case is one of several incidents of one-chance that is gradually being recorded along Badagry expressway. Sometime ago, according to him,  five passengers had their right hands chopped off at Aradagun area after boarding a commercial bus en-route Badagry and we are now poised to deal with them.