I read this in today’s Guardian and thot this was one aspect of Danfo’s I have not experienced (Thank God!)….
No chance of respite from ‘One chance’ robbers
By Nnamdi Iyama, Regina Akpabio, Seye Olumide, Bertram Nwannekanma and Isaac Taiwo
WITH the benefit of hindsight, and a little wiser than he was last week, Solomon Oyewole says he has learnt his lessons.
He would henceforth avoid boarding the popular commuter bus called Danfo and rather use the huge Molue.
If however he were forced to board a Danfo, he would make sure the bus is almost full to capacity with passengers. He would also not sit at the rear.
Still sporting a bandaged head, from the injuries he sustained, Oyewole’s wisdom arose following his narrowing experience at the hands of a gang of commuter bus robbers the police call “catch in the air” but who Lagosians prefer to call “one chance”.
The name Lagosians know the marauding robbers who have made commuting in the smaller public transport busses a risky business, is quite appropriate.
The name derives from the cry: “One chance”! “One chance”!! of the conductors, as they lure unwary commuters into their vehicles.
A clearing agent at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Oyewole was returning from his office at Ajao Estate, Isolo with a sum of N200,000 meant for a client’s consignment.
To him, it was not the first time to carry cash home. He was to leave for Apapa Wharf the next day with the money. He miscalculated and received a beating of his life at the hands of the “one chance” robbers.
“I was the first to board the bus at Junction Bus Stop going to Cele Bus Stop. Later, three other persons entered. I did not realise that the two who boarded after me were robbers. The bus also picked up another passenger at 7/8 Bus Stop. The innocent passengers and I soon realised that we were in danger as the bus sped off and refused to stop”, he narrated to The Guardian yesterday.
He added: “I had wanted to struggle with them but tales of their deeds and how many people had been shoved out abound. I told the other passengers to relax. The robbers brought out a gun and ordered us to surrender our belongings. They searched us and dropped us near Berger Bus Stop, Apapa”, he said.
According to him, besides the N200,000, they took his Motorola slip phone valued at N23,000, as well as other money and phones from the two other passengers.
For Mr. Michael Chukwu, his experience was not on the notorious Oshodi-Mile 2 Highway. They were robbed near the Ikoyi Cemetery on a bus he boarded at Obalende to Ikoyi.
“The robbers brought a bag and asked them to donate their belongings and hand sets or they would kill us and dump us at Ikoyi Cemetery. We all complied since nobody was willing to die” he said.
When Chukwu tried the number an hour after the robbery, he was told to come to Mile 2 with the sum of N10,000 for his Sim Card and not the phone.
The fear of “one chance” especially at night is no longer seen as a weakness on the part of any passenger. Even military personnel in mufti have been successfully robbed in “one chance” buses.
Not even the designation of certain areas as black spots has had any effect on this mode of robbery as more people fall victim continuously.
On Sunday, February 12, a lady who had gone to help a sister in-law cook for her husband’s club at Ajao Estate was robbed between Toyota and Five Star bus stops.
The lady who boarded a nearly empty bus at 7/8 after the club meeting at about 10.00 p.m. was beaten together with other passengers by the robbers and dropped at Jakande Bus Stop, near Mile 2 instead of Cele, her bus stop.
Her persistent screaming made the robbers give her N50 but not her wristwatch, handset, N1,500 cash and jewellery.
The mother of two was surprised when she trekked to Mile 2 to board a bus back to Cele, to see the same bus shouting Okokomaiko for passengers. Seized by fear, she crossed the road to board a bus back to Cele.
The situation was almost the same for a banker, Miss Tina Akpede, at the commercial side of Apapa on Friday, February 24.
The lady who lives with the mother at Olodi-Apapa left the bank at about 9.30 p.m. and boarded a bus in front of her office with N36,000 cash for her mother’s house rent.
Before Coconut Bus Stop, on Apapa-Oshodi Highway where she stops, she was robbed with others passengers at gunpoint.
The cash, a handset, jewellery, shoes and wristwatch were collected from her and the other victims.
They were violently shoved out at Ijesha Bus Stop and they trekked back to Olodi.
Recounting his ordeal to The Guardian recently, a trader, Kayode Olugboji, who just returned from Cameroun said: “I returned from Cameroun two weeks ago with large sum of money. I was to stay for some days in Lagos before going to Abuja.
“Last week, around 7.45 p.m., I boarded a Toyota commuter bus at Ojuelegba to Ketu. There were about four women in the bus. It gave me confidence of safety but surprisingly, at the middle of the fly-over bridge at Jibowu, one of the ladies jolted me out of my reverie: ‘Oga, can I see your luggage’? The men kept quiet. I looked round and faced her, then asked: ‘What for’”?
He continued: “For an answer, a hard slap landed on my face. A male voice urged me to cooperate, as I looked straight into the barrel of a gun pointed at me.
“That was how I surrendered almost N151,000 in my luggage and they asked me to go down.
“Interestingly, one of them asked if I had some money to take me home. When I said no, he stretched a N200 note to me with an advice to always pray well before I leaving home”.
But Obina Udoji was not too lucky like Olugboji who was robbed without being molested.
According to Obina, it happened on February 12 at about 6.45 a.m.
“My elder brother called me to go assist his wife in hard labour at an hospital at Iyana Ipaja. She was being referred to another hospital and would need some money.
“I took N20,000 and went out. When I got to Jibowu beneath the fly-over, there were no buses. An empty bus soon came and the conductor called out ‘Oshodi-Oke, N40′.
“Many passengers scrambled to board. Filled up, the door was slammed shut. Then it veered from the service lane into the main lane at top speed.
“Shortly after, the robbers brought out guns and demanded for money and handsets. I initially resisted and they beating me mercilessly before collecting everything I had.”
Another victim, Mrs. Ngozi Uche-Peter said she was similarly robbed in a bus at Hassan Bus Stop on Apapa-Oshodi Highway at about 9.00 p.m.
“As the bus pulled by me, they hesitated and started moving away. I ran after it pleading that it should take me on because I saw two female passengers in it.
“I didn’t know they were victims too. Immediately they moved towards Barliet Bus Stop, they started to search us. The other two women were beaten up because they resisted. They spoke incoherently. I handed over the N2,500 I had on me, pleading that they should stop for me. I was praying within me.
“After Ijesha, they stopped for me and returned everything they took, saying they were doing that because I cooperated. They let the two ladies go because of me”, she said.
But Mrs. Iyabo Adedeji was lured into a bus at Iyana Isolo Bus Stop when the robbers suspected her of knowing their mission.
According to her, “I was at the bus stop at about 8.00 p.m. waiting for a bus. I suspected the occupants of a bus that pulled by me and so refused to board. The driver reversed to where I was standing, and asked: ‘Do you think we are one chance? Enter this bus’. I gave in and the conductor used his hand to help me in.
“At Hassan, they announced: ‘For you to return home without harassment, surrender your money, h
andset and jewellery’. I handed everything I had on me and they stopped for me at Cele”.
andset and jewellery’. I handed everything I had on me and they stopped for me at Cele”.
Another victim, Moris Nkem said he was similarly lured into a bus on the same Apapa-Oshodi Highway as he waited for a bus at about 8.00 p.m. Two people on a motorcycle at the dark bus stop robbed him.
Reacting to inquiries yesterday, the State Police Command spokesman, Mr. Olubode Ojajuni said commuters in the metropolis need not go about in fear as certain measures which he would rather not disclose have been put in place to check the menace of catch-in the Air robbers
He however observed that there are more frequent police mobile patrols on the notorious routes like Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Mile Two-Iyana Oba, Mile Two-Tin Can, Oshodi-Sango-Ota and Ikotun-Iyana Ipaja roads among others.
E said while commuters should also cooperate with such patrol teams by identifying themselves when asked to do so, Lagosians would do well to exercise more caution and restraint when they board buses.
“A little caution can save one the dangers of catch-in-the-Air robbers pose. People should avoid buses that seem suspicious and try to board commercial vehicles only at designated parks and bus stops.
“There is no cause for alarm as the Police command is capable of checking the menace,” he said.
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