Police Move To Curb ‘One-Chance’ Robberies As Attacks Heighten Insecurity In Abuja

The Police have moved to curb cases of ‘one chance’ robberies in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Attacks on commuters by these criminals, who are identified by the practice of deceiving would-be-commuters by leaving one seat for them, have increased in recent weeks raising fears across the federal capital territory.

The latest victim is Greatness Olorunfemi, a member of the Yali Network in the FCT, who passed away on September 26, after she was allegedly pushed off from a moving vehicle by a suspected One-Chance Syndicate along the Maitama-Kubwa road.

Although she was rushed to the Maitama Hospital Emergency Unit where the medical personnel allegedly refused to attend to her, she was later confirmed dead without being attended to by medical personnel.

The hospital allegedly insisted on a police report before saving her life.

Olurunfemi’s case is one of three incidents of ‘One-Chance’, recorded by THE WHISTLER in the past week in Abuja. It is also one of many cases that have gained public attention.

On September 20, an aged mother to one Mercy, identified as @bigTems on the X application, had shared the experience of her mother with the One-Chance syndicate in the Zone 3 area of the FCT.

The elderly woman had boarded a commercial vehicle, unknown to her was occupied by the assailants known to use commercial vehicles to dispossess unsuspecting members of the public of their belongings, among other crimes.

The daughter raised the alarm of her abduction on September 22 via her X handle, calling for help on how to track her mother’s phone as the assailants who captured her were demanding N500,000.

“They pressed her neck and pushed her head down between the seats so nobody could see her in the vehicle… My mom is an elderly person with visible grey hairs on her head. These people didn’t care. Her phone was unlocked and they went through her messages,” she said in a lengthy post.

When THE WHISTLER reached out to her, the victim, through her daughter, gave a description of the criminals and her experience with them.

The victim said, “It was a blue-colored wagon car and there were three men: two in front, one behind. The one behind was holding her neck down to the car floor. They were quite young, except the driver who looked older.

“A woman was involved too, and one of the guys pretended to be like a teenage boy. The lady was at the back with the guy that pretended to be a boy before my mom got in.

“The guy sat in a way you couldn’t see he was a grown man (He lowered his body). So after my mom got in, they drove to Ali brothers (not sure if that’s what it’s called), then the lady alighted from the vehicle.

“It was just the guy and my mom at the back, then the person at the front reclined his chair all the way back to block the door and that was it. Her neck was held and pressed down to lower her head to the floor.”

The victim would later be whisked away to Kaduna road while demanding she called everyone that could send to them “millions”.

She added, “They had taken my mom to kaduna road at this point. My mom said they got to a checkpoint and the car stopped for a while. The policemen didn’t check the car, they just talked briefly with the guys who gave them money and they continued driving.”

The criminals carted away N20,000 in the bag of the victim as well as her gold rings, wristwatch, and other jewellery.

“A total of 170k only was taken from her and her life was spared… At around 12am, they dropped her off at Jahi. A Good Samaritan gave her a ride into town and she called me,” she added.

On September 27, another case of a journalist whose spouse was a victim of the syndicate was reported to the FCT police command.

The complaint shared on the FCT police media platform read, “My wife was kidnapped today at 5pm.. she was dumped somewhere in Wuse about some minutes ago, robbed silly at gunpoint… Kidnapped from the total filling Station opposite NNPC Towers. A good Nigerian had to help her from where she was pushed out of the vehicle and booked a bolt for her to get home.”

Reacting to the situation, the FCT police command, SP Josephine Adeh on Saturday, said the case of the journalist’s spouse is currently under investigation by the State’s Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).

Speaking to THE WHISTLER, she said, “The case was being investigated by the Mabushi Police Division, but at the moment, the CP had ordered that the case should be transferred to the State CID for proper investigations.

“And on the issue of One-Chance, the CP is currently working assiduously to curb the situation. At the moment, the command has established a covert operation and in no short time, the public will be aware of the success of these operations,” she said.

On the measures that FCT residents could take to avoid falling prey to the traps of criminals, Adeh said, “We have maintained that people should first, avoid being in a haste to board commercial vehicles because what we have noticed, based on the accounts of the victims, is that the One-Chance criminals take advantage of the rush hours.

“We know people are in a rush to arrive at their destinations, but it is important to watch out for these vehicles. The victims are always complaining that the criminals use tinted vehicles and sometimes they put a woman in it to make unsuspecting passengers feel comfortable.

“Beyond that, security is everyone’s responsibility, hence, residents should take extra measure in examining the type of commercial vehicles they board. They should also ensure that they board vehicles from designated parks because we have police officers at the approved parks.

“We, on our part, have taken drastic measures which have produced positive results and we look forward to revealing these achievements as the command has recorded some arrests.”