FOREST is well known by motorists traveling to Jos, usually from Abuja, Nasarawa or Benue axis. It is the highway between Fadan Karshi and Kurmin Goro and is a popular market for fruits during daytime.
But at night, dangerous criminals now appear to hibernate in the forest as the experience of Nunaya Jesse, a field support engineer with a telecom company who’s a regular traveler on the road shows.
Jesse narrated a near-death experience to THE WHISTLER during a night trip from Adamawa State to Jos last week.
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Narrating his ordeal, he said :
“I will never embark on a night journey again! It all happened like a dream when I was driving on the highway leading into Jos after Akwanga, there’s a village known as Forest between Fadan Karshi and Kurmin Goro where I almost got waylaid.
“It was around 8:44 pm when I passed through Fadan Karshi and noticed a luxury bus parked by the roadside, while its passengers alighted to buy what to eat from the little fruits market there. As I drove, I took a bend leading to Kurmin Goro. By then, the luxurybus I left behind had finished shopping and was now on the highway moving ahead with its journey. I slowed down to let it pass because there was no way I could overtake it.
“Driving behind slowly, we approached a bridge and then I thought to myself that the bus was really distracting me from driving well. I decided to overtake it. It was then I noticed a J-5 car driving ahead of me. I tried to overtake it too, then I saw armed men emerge from nowhere and began to shoot.
“Some were on my right and others on the left part of the road. I immediately sighted 5 of them wearing no mask. I’m sure I can recognise them when I see them next. They were Fulani, pure Fulani. They wore Jallabiya ( long gown) before wearing jumpers on top because it was cold.
“Some of the bandits were standing on both sides of the highway with AK47 guns and two of them opened fire on my car and the J-5 ahead of me.
“They were aiming at my car engine with the aim of disabling it. I don’t think they had the intention of killing me. It was indeed a calculated operation because some of them were also behind me but didn’t shoot. I feel they wanted to have me alive.
“My car and the luxuryy bus were the targets. I suspect they were informed about us when the luxury bus stopped at Fadan Karshi. They pretty much have informants there, I suspect..
Jesse said he did not try to stop his car, but to accelerate harder amid deafening sounds of gunshot.
Speaking further he said, ” They didn’t bother to shoot me from behind or shoot at me directly. I surmise they didn’t want to kill me, they wanted me alive. If they shoot me from behind too they may end up hitting their colleagues behind me.
“That was when I said to myself that I have finally fallen into the hands of kidnappers and would soon be dead! Having no option, I drove speedily through them as they fell towards the right, giving me a chance to escape. They continued shooting, aiming at his tyres and ignoring the J-5.
” When I drove further I realised that the rest of them standing ahead had no guns, but sticks and knives. It was at this juncture that my bottom plate was removed. The sound of the engine was beginning to indicate that the engine was about to knock. Obviously the bullets had hit my engine.
“The engine oil was now completely drained out of the car, yet I persisted and drove the car like that for over 2km before the engine finally knocked. That was how I escaped.
“It was in Kurmin Goro that my car knocked. So, I pleaded with some youths to help me push the car into a filling station there. There was a military camp at the filling station including their office. I told the soldiers about the situation at hand.
“When they heard about the bandits, they said the guys are always coming out around that same village, and the problem is that they would run away before the army arrived, and they don’t know which location they used to run to.”
Jesse said the soldiers hastily mobilised themselves and hit the road to go after the bandits.
He said despite the fact that he felt tired and sleepy, he still tried not to sleep, hoping that he would see the luxury bus drive by. When he checked the time, he discovered it was 12midnight, even then, he said he did not see the bus come-by.
“I’m sure the bandits must have hijacked it. Another driver that later came from that direction told me that he saw a Marcopolo bus parked by the roadside on his way coming. He thought it was parked because it developed a fault; he didn’t know it was the work of bandits. He said he didn’t meet any J-5 too on his way coming.
“I don’t know how many people they captured in the luxury bus, or what they were able to collect from them. I think the luxury bus was bound for Jos,” he said.