Edith CHUKU
There was panic at the Artillery Junction axis of Port Harcourt, when two ladies accused a mini bus driver of collaborating with armed robbers to rob his passengers.
The incident happened around 11pm on Sunday, at a filling station in Artillery.
The driver whose name was given simply as Mr Kelechi, had entered the filling station to get fuel when an angry mob surrounded him after the ladies spotted him and raised alarm.
They claimed they recognized him as the one who arranged with four armed robbers to rob them some minutes ago before they caught him.
One of the ladies, Gloria Emphraim, from Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, claimed her phone and that of her friend were forcefully taken from them by the driver and his gang who threatened them with a knife.
She explained in an interview that, “what happened is that, we entered motor(minibus) at Obigbo Express, we were going to our friend’s place that is celebrating her birthday, me and my girlfriend.
“The driver asked us where we are going to, we said we are going to market junction. He said it’s 700, we said we are with 500 naira, he said okay that we should enter.
“When we entered inside, he drove us and stopped at a place where there is no vehicle and put fuel. Then we were like the place you stop us and put fuel is not good. There was one lady at the front with a guy, she was going along, so she stopped before the driver stopped us in that lonely place.
“This thing happened at Oil Mill flyover. The driver now stopped, four guys came out with Knife, they put knife under their nicka. When they removed the knife they were like, your phone.
“First of all, when we were sitting because me and my girlfriend we sat at the back side with one guy, so they guy was sitting close to the window, so when those four guys attacked us and asked for our phones, the guy sitting at the window side jumped out, run and crossed to the another lane of the road. They did not succeed to rob him.
“When I saw this thing happening, I was like God how are we going to do? They flogged my girlfriend with knife because she was close to the door and I was in the middle side in the bus. Although the knife touched me but not the way they did to my girlfriend.
“During the incident, one of the guys said I should give him my phone or he is going to kill us and nothing will happen. I threw my phone through the window they were beating my girlfriend with me. So my girlfriend had to give them her phone. I did not know that one of the guys saw when i threw my phone. The guy now went through the back and picked my phone.
“The backside of the minibus there is no glass, is water-proof they used in covering it and the waterproof was torn. After they collected our phones, as we were running, we heard the driver calling one of the guys name that he should keep his own share, that was when I told my girlfriend that the driver is among them, that he carried us and gave the people who robbed us.
“As we were running, we saw an Hausa man driving motorcycle who helped us and dropped us at Artillery.”
Also speaking, one of the youths, Mr. Kelvin Nwachukwu, who was among those that apprehended the suspect, noted that, “I was at Artillery junction, some girls were complaining that they were robbed by ‘one chance’ driver. Unfortunately for the driver, as he was turning at Artillery to go and buy fuel at the filling station, the girls quickly identified the driver so I mobilized the people around to go and apprehend the driver.
“We went to the filling station, the girls identified him, we saw some of the girls property inside the bus. We carried the driver with the girls to Mini-Okoro Police station.
“His minibus is there. His name is Kelechi, He is from Anambra State. We made an entry at Mini-Okoro Police station. For now he is still at Mini-Okoro Police station.”
The Rivers State Police Command was yet to make official statement on the incident.
