Published 17th Jul, 2022

By Emmanuel Uti

A human resource staffer at a Lagos company has narrated how some men who disguised as police officers robbed her and some of her colleagues on Wednesday.

Asking not to be named whil speaking with FIJ, she said she and three of her colleagues were in a Toyota Matrix belonging to one of them when the armed men struck.

She said they were on the Eko Bridge, towards the Costain exit, at about 6:30 am, when they saw a man in a police camouflage and four others in mufti close to him.

“The driver, my colleague, thought they were police officers and tried to reduce his pace. The next moment, the man in police uniform smashed the driver’s window with a gun,” she told FIJ.

She stated that the driver tried swerving immediately after they smashed the driver’s window, but one thief already had a knife to his chest. This was when we realised they were not police officers.”

The human resources personnel said that she tried to jump out of the vehicle where she was seated, but one thief charged at her with a knife, so she locked the door.

She said that the thief wanted to smash her window after she locked the door, so she opened it of her own volition to avoid further damage.

“He asked where my phone was when I opened the door. He took my bag, wallet, and everything he could find,” she said.

“I tried dragging my bag from him, but when he held the knife so close to me, I started begging him. While this happened, two of them were attacking my other two colleagues at the back.”

She said that she could not tell what happened, but somehow, Adedeji (not real name), one of her colleagues at the back, got out of the car. They collected his laptop and phone, she stated.

“When we noticed that Adedeji was out of the vehicle, his wife and I got out of the car and started calling his name. The traffic was easing off, but no one stopped to help us.”

The human resources personnel said that after they were free from the pangs of the incident, they reported it to officers at the Iponri Police Station in Surulere.

She said that one officer at the station asked her why they had their bags in the car instead of the boot.

“The first officer we encountered told us that this was the result of the #EndSARS protest. They later said that the place was a deadly zone. They told us gory stories about how deadly that place was, so I wondered why they had done nothing about it,” she said.

She stated that the Divisional Police Officer was compassionate in his speech when they met him. According to her, the DPO blamed the continuous robbery attacks in the area on a lack of resources.

Adedeji, a fellow commuter, whose laptop, phone, and bag were stolen by the thieves, told FIJ a similar story.

He stated that while one thief was demanding the driver’s phone, two others wanted to stab him and his wife, who were in the back seat of the vehicle.

“While I was trying to avoid being stabbed, another person opened the passenger’s door, threatening to stab the lady in the passenger’s seat,” he said.

“I cannot say how I found myself outside the vehicle. Eventually, at the end of the saga, my shirt was torn and there were stains of blood, but it was not mine. I handed my phone and wristwatch over to them.”

“My wife and the lady alighted from the car, shouting my name. I got back in the car and we zoomed off.”

He said that the robbers left with his bag, laptop and phone.

“Everything happened in less than two minutes,” he said.

When FIJ called Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos Police Spokesperson, for comments, he did not answer his calls. At press time, he had not responded to a text sent to his phone.

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