Victims Recount Ordeal As ‘One Chance’ Criminals Spread Sorrow In Abuja
LAGOS OCTOBER 17TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Amid the high rising buildings, beautiful scenery, headquarters of security agencies and constant show of force by the police, Army, Department of State Services (DSS) and National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, lies the atrocities of criminals popularly known as ‘one chance.’
They are like the biblical roaring lion who are looking for Abuja residents to devour. Their vices have left trails of blood, emotional and psychological torture.
Their stock-in-trade is to brutalise, snatch the belongs of their victims and push them out of moving vehicles.
These daredevils disguise as commercial drivers and passengers in private vehicles that are mostly tinted. In order to create an impression of a safe atmosphere, their female cohorts sit in front of the car with protruded stomachs, pretending to be pregnant. But it is not.
These women insert clothes and silicone bellies to deceive unsuspecting commuters of safety.
The assailants operate mostly in the evenings when their victims have closed for the day. Women are mostly their targets.
Those who fall prey are mercilessly beaten. In some cases, victims are molested, raped and killed. While some are ransacking the bags of victims, others are withdrawing money with Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards.
Some of these men of the underworld are believed to be university graduates and they are technologically-savvy. They are experts in operating and manipulating financial applications and bank codes.
Also, they are very patient. They can hold a victim hostage while driving around Abuja city centres for hours until they get what they want.
The safety and eventual freedom of victims largely depends on the amount of money in their accounts. Embattled victims without sufficient money to part with receive severe beatings.
When they are done with their deeds, they push their victims out of the moving vehicle and, in some cases, run over them unperturbed.
Margaret Ogbor, a journalist with a television station, recalled how she fell victim and it has affected her negatively.
Ogbor said her life’s saving and money meant for her parents medical bills were collected from these men, amid the torture.
Her words: “Mine happened last year. I had just collected some contributions that I was supposed to pay for my mum and dad’s hospital bills.
“I was supposed to take a cab but it was raining and I knew that where I was waiting to get a cab was not a good spot. So, when that vehicle stopped I entered not knowing that there was someone hiding under the chair. The guy squatted. I didn’t see because it was dark.
“The driver had one person in front. When I got in, I closed the door. But I noticed that the doors were wound up and there were tinted. That was when the person next to me sat down. I told them politely to please wind down the glasses because it was begining to feel stuffy that was when they brought out guns and pointed at me.
“They took my bag and ATM card. They brought out POS and withdrew my money. I had almost one million naira in one account. They took that one.
“The contribution of N200,000 they collected it from my bag. They took my phone, jewelry and other things they liked.
“They threatened to sell my body parts. I did not think they were serious. It was surprising to me. I felt they were not sounding serious to me. But they kept on driving outside Abuja. They were approaching the city gate axis leading in Lugbe.
“So, I just decided to speak to one of them sitting by my right because he was a bit calm. I noticed that he had some level of empathy in him.
“I told him that he should not let them do anything to me because he it is not just harming me but my parents who were in the hospital and that would break them if the found out that I had been kidnapped.
“As I was talking, one of them kept on hitting me with the gun. At the time, the person in front had come to sit beside me to enable him continue ransacking my things before heading to Gwagwalada.
“The guy told his friends that the night was still young and that they should drop me. They wanted to drop me there, but he refused and instructed them to take me back to town. That was how they took me back to town and gave me N2000 out of my money. That was how I was released.”
Ogbor noted that since that incident, boarding a public cab had become a herculean task because of the fear of the unknown.
“I still have the trauma from that incident. It has been very hard taking public transport. At some point, I was spending the little money I had on Uber and Bolt. But then this is Nigeria, you have to face reality.
“I had to go back to public transportation. I just gradually got used to the whole thing. But it took me over one year to get used to setting with people in public vehicles and not feel frightened.
“You cannot say people fall prey to this kind of incident because they are not careful enough. It is just God’s protection that keeps us moving,” she said.
While Ogbor survived the ordeal, Greatness Olorunfemi did not make it. In September 2023, Olurunfemi, a staff of Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) died as a result of multiple injuries she suffered in the hands of ‘one chance’ daredevils.
A co-passenger with Olurunfemi Kike Okere, narrated the unfortunate incident.
Okere, a community worker, said after closing from work on the rainy day, she had to enter a petrol station waiting for the rains to subside.
And because of the large number of commuters scampering to get vehicles, she got
to the tower of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), to relax.
Finally, she got a vehicle which had Olurunfemi inside. Before she could heave a sigh of relief that she had finally boarded a vehicle, the unimaginable happened. They were waylaid.
“There was no vehicle on ground, it was just vehicles going to Dutse. Then, a vehicle came and the driver was calling Kubwa. Already, there were people inside; there was a guy in front and one at the back. Because the rain was still threatening to come down, we just entered the vehicle.
“Immediately, the vehicle moved. On getting to the Masalachi (Mosque) junction, Greatness now noticed that the door was not locked properly.
“She was now telling the driver to stop the vehicle so that she could lock the door because I entered before her and she was seated beside me. Immediately she turned, she noticed that the handle wasn’t there. The thing caught my attention.
“By the time we turned to face the driver, the glasses were already wound up and they were tinted glasses.
“The guy in front just pushed his chair backward and brought out a long gun while the one beside me brought out a short gun.
“They started beating the two of us. They immediately collected our bags, phones and ATM cards.
“As they were beating me because they saw a security pass, Greatness was crying, pleading for help. They were just hitting her.
“The one in front didn’t have pity at all. He was just hitting her. It was her ATM card they first collected though they collected all the ATMs. They asked her for the pin of her ATM and she told them the pin. They asked me, too.
“We complied with whatever they told us. I do not know if there was any money in her account. I do not know what really happened. They just said ‘no be you we dey find.’
Some good Nigerians, who saw Greatness soaked in her blood took her to the Maitama General Hospital, Abuja, but the management allegedly refused to treat her without a police report. In the process of waiting, she died.
Greatness was billed to travel abroad to further her education, according to her father, Rev Joseph Olurunfemi.
Olurunfemi, who is the General Overseer of Christ Restoration Gospel Centre in Lagos, said the late Greatness was his first daughter, who dedicated her life for humanity.
The cleric, who said he had accepted God’s verdict, called on the authority to fish out killers of his daughter.
In an emotionally laden voice, he said: “My Greatness is not dead. Her works remain here with us and by the grace of God the family will continue to advance that society is safe for living and that workers in our hospitals respect the laws and victims of violence, robbery, accident should be treated without condition or protocols.
“Therefore, I appeal to all friends, families, colleagues, the church members and organisations that have been grieved to sue for peace and allow the government to carry on their investigation accordingly.
“We cannot bring Greatness back to life but actions and decisions can be made to correct errors in our medical organisations as well as bringing positive change to the security systems. This could serve as one of the legacies for the death of my daughter.”
Ogbor and Greatness are not the only victims of ‘one chance’ criminals. On October 3, 2023 a victim, who preferred to be known simply as Deborah, was abducted. Deborah said she spent over seven hours with her kidnappers in their vehicles.
“I was coming back from work. At that Arab Junction around 6:48pm. Normally, I do not tell drivers where I am going to. I ask and they tell me. But in this particular incident, I asked but the driver did not respond.
“I told him that I was going to Dutse, he said I should enter. I asked him where his last bus stop would be. He started stammering.
“He really didn’t answer. I just told him I was going to Power Line. Immediately I got in, I started feeling uneasy. I checked the doors to wind down. But I didn’t see anything.
“They were all spoilt. The guy by my side was looking funny. The other one was scrolling through his Facebook account. I tried to look at the name he used in registering the Facebook but I couldn’t see it.
“I do not think they even got to Phase 3 along Kubwa when the driver rolled up the glass window of the other guy. He wanted to wind up my window glass. I told him not to but he was adamant and he did it.
“The guy next to me said, ‘you have entered.’ He tried covering my mouth, I resisted. I struggled to put my leg on the steering and the car began to wobble.
“I kept doing that because I heard police siren. I do not know if the police officers noticed something. After a while, the van just drove past and that was when I knew that it was over.
“I just had to succumb. One thing I noticed was that immediately I entered I was the third person. You know that these public taxis love picking a fourth passenger. But that did not happen in my case.
“They left the service lane completely. They made me sit in the middle. The woman in front pushed her seat backward to press me.
“They collected my bag, the money inside. They asked if I was the owner of the ATM I said I wasn’t. After much beating I had to tell them that I was the owner of the ATM.
“They were able to withdraw all the money. They said they were leaving Abuja and told me that I did not know where I was.
“The woman in front got down. Immediately she dropped, the driver zoomed off. She collected the money they withdrew with my card. She called them they drove back and picked her.
“They made a mistake by giving me their phone to start calling my people. I called my sister immediately. When they knew they made a mistake they told me to end the call.
“They gave me my own phone to start calling my people to send me money. Even when I told them I did not have people to call, they went through my phone to call people.
“They instructed me to unlock my big phone to check if I had a bank App but I didn’t.
“I had Palmpay (a financial app). I do not know why they didn’t see it. After driving for about three hours, they told me they were no longer in Abuja and that they were taking me to one Alhaji to sell my body parts.
“My people kept sending money to my account and they were withdrawing with their POS. Around 2pm the place they were collecting money had ran out of cash.
“The guy at the back seat said they should go to Wuse 2. They dropped me off. They borrowed money from my account. I do not know how they did it. But they are very good with banking Apps and codes. They got a loan from GTbank.”
Sun News
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Posted by News Rangers
on Oct 17 2023. Filed under Features, National.
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