A motorist, Samson Olanrewaju, has narrated how he was attacked and robbed of his belongings by armed men in Lagos traffic gridlock.
The victim in an interview with the Punch on Monday said he was robbed alongside other motorists in the Ido area, along the Third Mainland Bridge on Friday around 8.30pm.
Narrating his ordeal he said: “I was coming back from work at Lekki, so I drove down the Third Mainland Bridge towards Ido, close to Ijora Olopa where the incident happened. There was light traffic.
“Those guys were robbing two cars ahead of me already. I couldn’t reverse because there was traffic. I immediately wound up the glass to at least protect myself.
“But as soon as they finished with those two cars, I just heard sounds from the two sides of my car, they broke the side windscreen and began demanding my phone and other things. They entered and removed money from my safe. They had cutlasses and knives. One of them removed everything in my safe, and made away with my power bank, an iPhone 6, and a laptop.”
Olanrewaju, who is the Deputy Chairman of the African Action Congress in Lagos state, revealed that he was asked to pay N3,000 for documentation when he ran to police station to report the incident.
Another victim, Adetunji, said he lost his N15,000 a phone and his wallet to the robbers.
Adetunji said: “It was like a film. I have been hearing about these highway robbers but I never expected that I would be a victim. They took advantage of the traffic, came out of nowhere and started breaking people’s windows, they removed the side mirror of my car. My phone, cash and N15,000 were gone. I later got home to find out that my wallet was also not where I placed it in the car. They are small boys, some of them teenagers.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the incident assured to improve security on the road, adding that the policeman who requested for N3,000 has been identified and invited to the headquarters.
