‘They Pushed Me Out On The Express’- Lady Narrates Encounter With Abuja One-Chance Robbery Syndicate

A resident of Abuja (name-withheld) has recounted her ordeal with a ‘one chance’ robbery syndicate who beat her to a pulp after she boarded a taxi going to Games Village on Wednesday night.

The victim told THE WHISTLER that she boarded a vehicle from the International Conference Centre at Area 11 after leaving the mid-week service of her church on the faithful day.

The rush from church members also heading home had caused scarcity of taxis, forcing commuters to rush for available ones.

She had boarded a taxi heading to Area 1 with her mind fixed on quickly getting home and preparing for the next day.

Narrating her ordeal in an interview with THE WHISTLER, the victim said, “Before I entered, it was just the driver and a guy in front, and another guy at the back. So, when I entered, I became the second person at the back.”

Upon settling into the vehicle, the victim said she had noticed that the window regulator was absent, then she had asked the driver to wind down her side of the window, but the driver gave an unexpected response.

“It was then that it dawned on me that I had entered the wrong car. Immediately I told the driver I wanted to come down. We haven’t even
moved far from where I had boarded when the driver told the guy at the back in Igbo that he should take care of me.

“This guy pounced on me and started to press my neck and I kept shouting Jesus! He was able to compress me under the car seat at the back. I think they stopped somewhere I could not see because my face was buried in the ground.

“The guy in front now came to the back. So, it was just me in the middle of two men. The men kept pressing my neck with force, and I thought they wanted to strangle me,” she narrated.

She said the manhandling continued while the car was in motion, and she heard the driver’s voice later, demanding access to her phone. Once he had access, the victim said all her money was transferred from her bank Application.

They also demanded her ATM pin, which she revealed, and they withdrew the money using a POS machine which they had in the car.

“They still asked me, if it was all the money I had. In fear, I said I had money in my shares account,” she said, adding that she immediately enabled the transfer after they subjected her to intense beating while putting a knife to her throat.

The victim said she had a bag park containing all official things, including her personal items, all of which were carted away as she was later thrown out of the moving vehicle that night under the bridge at Mpape area of the city.

The victim sustained a fracture and was later taken to a medical facility for treatment.

The use of commercial vehicles by ‘one-chance’ syndicate to dispossess unsuspecting passengers of their belongings has heightened in the last
three months in Abuja.

There have been many reports of similar incidents in Abuja while the FCT police seem to be struggling to contain the situation.

In October alone, the FCT Police arrested a one-chance kingpin, Chukwudi Ezirikew, who was terrorizing commuters along Kubwa/Zuba express way and recovered his vehicle, a golf 3 car.

Also, one Shamsu Umar, a member of a three-man gang was apprehended while trying to rob a female resident along the Maitama expressway.

Speaking to THE WHSITLER, the FCT Police Spokesperson, Josephine Adeh said the command “was on top of the matter as it has secured the arrests of some suspects in the last few weeks”.

She noted that the command had also constituted an Anti-One Chance Squad to curb the menace of robbery (one chance) activities within the FCT.

Adeh advised residents in the FCT to stop boarding unidentified vehicles along the wayside but should go to designated parks.

“Most of the complaints that we have received, are from residents who boarded vehicles along the road or lonely paths. We have not received complaints from anyone that used designated parks,” she told THE WHISTLER.