The thought of leaving for work and returning home every day now torments Lizzy Igbokwe (pseudonym), a resident of Lagos State, who was a victim of the infamous ‘one chance’ men in Nigeria’s commercial capital.

Her unfortunate experience, which saw her lose her phone, happened in the morning of February 29, after she boarded a bus at the DKK bus stop.

Igbokwe told FIJ that when she hopped into the shuttle called Korope at 6:12 am, she saw a man sitting by the driver’s side and another man inside the bus, whom she sat beside.

She recalled that the driver had barely begun the journey to Ajah Under Bridge when he started demanding her fare. Although uncomfortable with his approach, Igbokwe handed him a N1,000 note, only to be told he had no change.

READ ALSO: ALERT: ‘One Chance’ Buses have Found a New Way of Robbing Passengers of their Phones

“The guy on the same seat as me was huge; he had dry skin and a dirty tattoo. I felt uncomfortable but continued the journey because the driver stopped on the way for new passengers to enter his bus, although no one did,” Igbokwe told FIJ.

She said she asked the driver if he had N200 so she could hand him a N500 note but he responded in the negative. It was then that she opened her bag to find N300 to give to the driver. But after she did, the driver refused to return her N1,000.

Next, she said, the driver turned to her and asked her to raise the iron bar underneath the last seat on the first row. But she refused to do so because no one was about to enter or alight.

“Once the driver said this, the guy sitting beside me started resting on me as though he was uncomfortable. The driver was also acting like he wanted to help me. When it became serious that something was wrong, I contemplated jumping off the bus. They were shoehorning me into a nonexistent corner. All the while, the guy by the driver’s side didn’t budge,” she said.

READ ALSO: Anxiety, Fear of Public Buses… How One-Chance Robbery Affects Commuters’ Mental Health

While this happened, she did not know the man sitting beside her was trying to steal from her. All she noticed was that after this episode, the driver left her alone, and the man resting on her returned to his normal position.

“It was as though they signalled to each other that they had obtained what they wanted from me,” she said. “With what happened, I opted to alight, and he slowed down for me to. The driver gave me a dangerous look and handed me my N1,000 note before I alighted.”

The realisation that she could have been robbed hit her after she alighted. She then searched her bag to see if everything in it was intact. When she checked her bag, she realised that her phone had vanished.

“The river stopped me at Olukola, but I am glad I am safe. Things could have been worse, but here I am. The next day, I stood at the bus stop for over 20 minutes because all the mini-buses appeared the same to me,” she said.

“I am traumatised. I cannot freely enter commercial buses in Lagos. Going to work scares me. Returning to my house scares me too, but I have to go out to survive. I now have pepper spray, but I do not hope to have any reason to use it.”

In recent times, ‘one chance’ seems to be on the rise in Lagos. In October, FIJ reported about a lady who bought her life with N255,000 after encountering ‘one chance’ men.