Police, BBNaija Star Bicker Over ‘One-Chance’ Robberies Despite Checkpoint

Former Big Brother Naija housemate Leo Dasilva and Nigeria Police Force spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin have clashed over the effectiveness of police checkpoints in combating “one-chance” Robberies.

This comes amid a recent surge in attacks by criminal gangs known as “one chance” who pose as commercial drivers to rob, abduct or kill passengers in Abuja and Lagos.

Dasilva had in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday condemned police checkpoints as ineffective.

According to him, such checkpoints have done little to curb the menace of “one-chance” operators, whom he likened to perpetrators of “mini kidnapping” and “mini banditry.”

“Nothing pisses me off than ‘one chance’. It’s like mini kidnapping, mini banditry. Instead of police mounting useless checkpoints to greet us, why not go to bus stops and investigate these one-chance operators and grab all of them?” Da Silva wrote.

But responding to the post on Sunday, Hundeyin cautioned that policing strategies must balance enforcement with the protection of citizens from harassment and unnecessary inconvenience.

He argued that heavy police presence at bus stops could lead to complaints of profiling, harassment and delays for commuters, noting that there are more efficient approaches to crime prevention.

“I am sure you would come back to complain of police harassment, profiling and unnecessary delays at the bus stops. There are smarter ways.

“Let us start by making moves for 24/7 CCTV coverage of all bus stops. Just in case you’d ask, it isn’t for us to install, but it’ll help us a great deal,” Hundeyin said.

In a follow-up post, Dasilva clarified that his criticism was not directed at lawful policing but misallocation of manpower.

He insisted that police resources should be prioritised toward targeting criminal gangs rather than maintaining routine checkpoints.

“I don’t know what your first sentence means, even if that doesn’t affect me, it’s a valid complaint. Instead of deploying unnecessary checkpoints, why not suggest to the force that one chance operators must be caught. Use that manpower to sort that. Abuja and Lagos, especially,” he wrote.

Recently, the body of an Abuja-based lawyer, Princess Chigbo Mediatrix, believed to be a former Treasurer of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abuja Branch, was discovered along the Kubwa Expressway in Abuja.

She was reported to have boarded a commercial vehicle on her way home to Kubwa but never arrived, raising suspicions that she fell victim to “one-chance” operators.

Similarly, the body of a nurse with the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi, identified as Chinemerem Chuwumeziem, was found by the roadside days earlier.

The nurse reportedly boarded a vehicle after completing her afternoon shift on January 3, 2026, but did not return home.

The FCT Police Command had confirmed that preliminary investigations into both cases point to the activities of organised “one-chance” criminal gangs operating within Abuja.