Tears as one chance taxis, pickpockets rape, rob Abuja residents

The activities of armed robbers posing as taxi drivers ‘popularly called one chance’ to dispossess unsuspecting passengers of their valuables were hitherto rampant only in Lagos state, however, in recent times, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has come under siege, especially as the criminals are now being complemented by pickpockets in major bus stops.
PAUL OKAH reports.
In Nigerian parlance, “one chance” is a name given to robbery gangs that rob in commercial buses or taxis.
They usually have members of the gang in the bus or taxi, who pretend to be genuine passengers and drive around looking for victims.
However, unlike genuine commercial drivers, they do not pick more than one or two victims at a time.
Then they drive the unsuspecting victims to a remote place, where they are threatened with guns, cutlasses, charms or other dangerous weapons and then dispossessed of either their money, handsets, laptops or other valuables.
Sometimes, after dispossessing the unsuspecting passenger-victims of their valuables, the criminal gang pushes them out of the moving vehicle or, if they are kind enough, they stop for their victims to alight, before they zoom off to share their loot or rob other victims.
But those pushed off the taxis and buses can be said to be the lucky ones, as some victims have equally been raped (in the case of women) or used for ritual purposes, with their mutilated bodies found by the road side.
Some are even missing till now.
Method of operation From Blueprint Weekend’s investigations, it was gathered that, to ensure successful operations and to avoid a run-in with the police, these “one chance” criminals operate mostly during the early hours of the morning and late in the evening.
Usually at this time, there is a rush by those going to work early in the morning, to avoid traffic congestion.
Then, in the evening, those returning from work or their places of business, a busy day, would only be interested in getting home to rest and would naturally hop into any available vehicle, thereby falling victim to the activities of “one chance” criminals.
Lagos origin Blueprint Weekend investigations further revealed that the “one chance” criminal activities have their origin in Lagos state after the independence of Nigeria.
Lagos is regarded as the most populous city in West Africa, where different people, from diverse background, meet to eke out a living and to make it away from their different villages.
However, the activities of these “one chance” criminals in the cosmopolitan city of Lagos were so worrisome that ninety percent of residents were said to have fallen victim at one time or the other.
The popular parlance Eko oni baje roughly translated to mean “Lagos no go spoil” can be linked to the activities of these “one chance” drivers, pickpockets and other criminals.
As a result, instead of being welcomed to the city, new comers are warned: “This is Lagos” and for them to “shine your eyes,” otherwise one can easily fall prey to the activities of criminals in different guises.
Over time, the crime spilled into other major cities across the country, like Kaduna, Onitsha, Benin, Aba, Enugu, Kano, Uyo, Jos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, etc.
One chance in Abuja As Abuja replaced the country’s most populous city of Lagos as the capital of Nigeria on December 12, 1991, the “one chance” criminal drivers naturally turned their attention to the developing nation’s capital.
Just like in Lagos and other developed cities, residents of Abuja have come in contact with these “one chance” taxi drivers at one time or the other and have one chilling story or the other to tell of their experiences.
From Blueprint Weekend investigations, it was discovered that many residents of the FCT have been thrown out of a moving vehicle, after being robbed by the criminals and sustained injuries in the process.
In fact, the victims’ experiences are not pleasantly related by them.
The criminals, sometimes working individually or in groups, employ different tactics to deprive their victims of their property.
Some residents of Abuja, who spoke with Blueprint Weekend, alleged that some painted Abuja taxis are now notorious for the crime, hitherto practised by operators of unpainted taxis.
Hypnotised and robbed Narrating his unpalatable experience to Blueprint Weekend in an exclusive chat, a recent victim of the ugly “one chance” trend, Mr.
Ibrahim Dangata, said he was hypnotised, robbed and injured by the criminals on his way to Wuse from Mararaba, just few weeks ago.
As he is yet to start speaking, due to the injury to his mouth, he told this reporter, in a Whatsapp chat, that he lost consciousness after coming in contact with “one chance” criminals and found himself in Abuja National Hospital.
He said: “Some weeks ago, I went to Mararaba to check on a friend.
On my way back, I boarded a car in private colour heading to Wuse-Berger.
In the vehicle, there was just the driver and a passenger.
About few kilometres to AYA, the man at the front kindly asked me to help him buy pure water, so he gave me N20.
That was all I could remember, until I found myself at the National Hospital in Abuja.
My phones and some of my belongings were stolen and I sustained injury on my body, my face and I lost a tooth.
When I asked my brother, he said they searched for him for hours, but a policeman later called them that they found my living body around Jabi.
So, they brought me to the National Hospital, where, after many days, I had a surgery and spent about N400, 000 on my medical care.
It was a very sad experience.” Family robbed Similarly, while narrating her encounter to Blueprint Weekend, another resident of the FCT, Mrs.
Divine Ifeyinwa Otu, said that she had an ugly experience with “one chance” criminals in the yuletide of 2015, alongside other members of her family.
She said that they were robbed at gun point and forced to surrender the items they were travelling home with.
She said: “My family and I spent the yuletide of 2015 in regrets, as we were robbed by “one chance” drivers at Dei Dei on December 24, 2015, on our way to the village for the yuletide.
Being a busy period, we had a difficult time getting a bus so early in the morning, as I left the house with my husband and two children by 5am.
“We were then living in Zuba and needed to board Peace Mass Transit in Utako that would take us directly to our village for convenience.
We were waiting by the roadside when a bus with some passengers stopped and carried us and loaded our luggage in the booth.
However, we did not know we had boarded a “one chance” bus.
I even shared the word of God and prayed for the occupants of the bus.
However, just after Dei Dei and getting to Kubwa, before we knew what was happening, the driver changed directions from where we were going, with a serious warning for us “to corporate well or die.” Continuing, she said: “They searched our pockets and took away all our money.
They also took away all the new items we brought, including: clothes, shoes, bags, foreign rice, oil, etc.
We were only left with our old clothes.
Fortunately, the only money left with us was the N1, 000 I wanted to pay as tithe to my church, which was inside my Bible.
“Those guys are wicked than the devil himself.
You can’t imagine, they dropped us at a very lonely area in a village called Wida.
We had to retrace our steps to the road and used the N1, 000 meant for my tithe to transport ourselves back to Zuba.
That was the end of December as far as we were concerned.” Photojournalist robbed Furthermore, a photojournalist with Blueprint Newspapers in Abuja, Mr. Ayuba Raji, was on Sunday, August 12, this year, dispossessed of his belongings around the National Stadium, Abuja by a group of armed robbers.
Narrating his ordeal, Raji said that he boarded a taxi from NICON Junction in Maitama to Area 1, Abuja, in company with some passengers.
According to him, “rather than head to our destination, the driver took to the road leading to Lugbe axis, and stopped the car around the National Stadium where they dispossessed me of my