Editorial

These one-chance robberies

RECENTLY, the Senate summoned the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; the Minister of Health, Muhammad Pate, and his counterpart in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over the death of one Ms. Greatness Olorunfemi at the Maitama General Hospital, Abuja. Olorunfemi, a victim of ‘one-chance’ traffic robbers in Abuja, had died from the injuries she sustained after she was allegedly rejected by the Maitama hospital. In a separate incident, the FCT police command announced the arrest of one Chukwudi Ezirike, a wanted ‘one chance’ kingpin who had allegedly operated for some time on the Kubwa/Zuba highway. Speaking to journalists at the command’s headquarters, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Haruna Garba, noted that Ezirike’s operational vehicle, a blue Golf 3 car with registration number KWL 536 RZ, was also recovered by the police. Garba further noted that most of the vehicles recovered following such crimes had tinted glasses on them, adding that during a police search, an axe, a cutlass, and one knife suspected to be used in carrying out criminal activities were recovered from the vehicles, and that three suspects arrested in relation to such incidents were under investigation.

Also briefing journalists in Abuja on October 25, the FCT Police Commissioner said the newly created Operation Sting and anti-one chance squad of the command had carried out coordinated operations and impounded nine vehicles with tinted glasses suspected to be used for one chance activities in the FCT. Worried by the situation in the FCT, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has threatened to shut down illegal motor parks operating in the capital city. Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, made this declaration during a chat with journalists in his office in Abuja. He was reacting to the reported cases of ‘one-chance’ robbery and kidnapping in Abuja for weeks, as criminals pretending to be commercial vehicle operators robbed unsuspecting victims without any challenge by the authorities. Wike said: “We discovered that most of the areas where they (criminals) stay are shanties and uncompleted buildings and that is why we say we cannot allow these uncompleted buildings where criminals have made their place of abode. Bring down all these uncompleted buildings which have turned to shanties and they will have nowhere to hide.”

In June, the Lagos State Police command arrested three suspects believed to be members of a notorious one-chance gang operating on the Oshodi-Gbagada Expressway. According to Benjamin Hundeyin, the police spokesperson, the suspects were apprehended by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) while attempting to drop off a victim in the Gbagada area of Oshodi-Oke. It was discovered that the gang had previously stolen the operational vehicle, a Suzuki minibus known as ‘Korope,’ at gunpoint in February at Ketu bus stop on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. There have been similar reports of one-chance robberies in Edo, Delta and other parts of the country.

It cannot but be disturbing news that from Abuja to Lagos, Benin and Kaduna and other places, one-chance robberies are taking place as if there is no government in place. Unsuspecting persons board taxis and are robbed of their belongings, “one-chance” being a characterisation of the language of criminals soliciting passengers, often away from motor parks, and telling them that there is only one space (‘one chance’) left in the vehicles, apparently to give the impression that the passengers will not be unduly delayed. Often, shortly after the unsuspecting passengers have boarded the vehicles, the criminals roll out their guns and other weapons and rob them of their belongings, often beating them to stupor and throwing them out of the vehicles even while in motion. Although one-chance robberies are not new in the country, they have assumed a disturbing dimension in recent terms, occurring almost on a daily basis, with the FCT, Abuja, seemingly worst hit by the phenomenon.

One chance robberies should, we believe, be seen essentially as a reflection of the degenerating level of insecurity in the country. The government and the security agencies are unable to provide basic security for the people across the length and breadth of the country. With the so-called ‘bandits’ exposing the incapacity and helplessness of the authorities, it is a no-brainer that sundry criminal actors will latch unto the situation to continue milking victims, taking advantage of the extant security lapses. We expect the government to apprehend the current situation as signalling chaos, and to undertake a radical overhaul of the security capacity and architecture in place at the moment. It is clear that security-wise, nothing is working in the country now and it would be critical and important for the government to address the issue frontally. The country should not be allowed to dissolve into sheer anarchy and disorderliness even as it should be recognised that no country survives and functions well without adequate security.

The government must take steps to checkmate this trend, and very fast too. Failure to do so means that innocent citizens will continue to suffer at the hands of criminals, lives and properties will be lost and the country’s image will keep taking a hit.

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