Wanted: Real justice for Bamise

Bamisile’s Death and Conspiracy

On Friday, May 2, 2025, the High Court of Lagos State delivered judgement in the case of a driver in the employment of Lagos State who raped and killed a lady passenger in cold blood. This came after a protracted trial that started in 2022. The deceased, Oluwabamise Toyosi Ayanwole was a young Nigerian lady who left her hometown in Ekiti State in search of greener pastures in Lagos, like many other Nigerians. She was 22 years old and the last child of her parents, Joseph and Comfort Ayanwole. She had nine other siblings and worked as a fashion designer before her untimely death. On February 26, 2022, after leaving work at Ajah area of Lagos State, Bamise boarded a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system at Chevron, Lekki heading to Oshodi on the Lagos mainland around 7:30pm, with the intention of going to visit her elder brother’s family to spend the weekend. After boarding the bus, the driver flirted with her and told her to sit at the back. At the time, she was the only passenger in the bus and she observed that the interior was dark. She also noticed that at least two other male passengers entered the bus afterwards. The driver did not pick more passengers. There were no CCTV cameras in the bus. She immediately sent voice notes to her friend via WhatsApp revealing her concerns. She also sent some video recordings of the bus interior with the bus plate number identifier to her friend who advised her to alight as soon as possible at the next bus stop. Afterwards further attempts by her friends and relatives to contact her via phone calls were unsuccessful. Prior to this, one of her last recorded conversations with her friend was “… Please, pray for me.” After several failed attempts to communicate via her phone, the last known sound heard after a caller picked her phone revealed her struggling with an unidentified man. The following day, she was reported missing. On March 7, 2022, her lifeless body was discovered naked near the Carter Bridge on Lagos Island. An eyewitness stated that Bamise was still alive after she was thrown out of the BRT bus but she couldn’t be treated or rushed to the hospital before she died. There are conflicting reports in the media as to whether her corpse was found whole or mutilated.

Arrest of the Culprit

The driver of the BRT was eventually traced and identified as 50-year-old Andrew Nice Omininikoron. He kept mute after the incident. After Bamise’s disappearance was made public, he fled and went into hiding in the neighbouring Ogun State. He was tracked down and arrested by the Department of State Service (DSS) Operatives and handed over to the police for questioning and custody. He initially confessed to raping Bamise and abandoning her but he later changed his story, denying any involvement in her murder. He claimed that his bus was hijacked by armed robbers (referring to the men who entered the bus) who also kidnapped Bamise at gunpoint. His claims were challenged by Bamise’s relatives, friends and Nigerians. Accusations of rape and sexual assault were brought to light by at least two other female victims of Andrew in similar circumstances. His suspected accomplices are also yet to be identified till date. Public protests led to the suspension of BRT Transport operations in Lagos State for some days.

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The Criminal Trial

There was considerable public outrage regarding the circumstances leading to Bamise’s death and demand for justice on her behalf. Initially, some mystery was woven around the incident which tended to masque the truth of what transpired but due to the vigilance of Bamise’s family, protest by Nigerians and extensive, relentless media coverage, the Lagos State Government swung into action. Working with the police and the family, investigation was expedited and the rapist killer was arraigned in Court on a five-count charge of conspiracy, felony, sexual assault, rape and murder. At the arraignment, the Honourable Attorney-General of Lagos State made a personal appearance and vowed to ensure dutiful prosecution. He led the first prosecution witness, one Madam Odezulu, who narrated the vivid details of how Andrew (BRT driver) picked her up in Ajah the previous year on November 25, 2021 and forcefully raped her inside the same bus. In demonstration of the commitment of the government to the trial, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution was also involved in the trial as well as other experienced counsel from the ministry. I was present in court on one occasion to witness the trial proceedings. The police and the other law enforcement agencies teamed up with the ministry of justice to ensure dutiful prosecution. Mr. Kayode Aluko, a fleet operational manager with the Lagos State BRT, also testified in court and identified Andrew as the driver of the bus in question. He was employed in 2021 through an outsourcing company. The case of the prosecution was very detailed and well packaged such that one could reasonably predict the verdict of the court. On the other hand, the defence was very weak and porous. This resulted in delay tactics and filibustering by the defence to weary the prosecution and prolong the trial, leading to several adjournments, but the public kept vigil with the court proceedings. Upon the close of the prosecution’s case, the defence made a feeble no case submission which was promptly dismissed by the trial Court, prompting the defendant to mount the witness box to testify in his defence. His case was very porous, weak and rather unconvincing. It therefore did not come as a surprise to all that he was given the maximum sentence by the court, to give a sense of justice to Bamise’s family, to act as deterrence to other Andrews who may be lurking around and also as a reward for the painstaking investigation and prosecution of the case. In its judgment, the trial court held that the prosecution successfully proved its case, relying on the doctrine of “last seen” and the deceased’s dying declarations to establish Ominikoron’s guilt.

The Lessons from Bamise’s Case

In the course of investigation of this case and the trial, several issues have been thrown up which deserve to be addressed. First is that there are many unreported rape cases, due mainly to negative public perception and profiling, cultural limitations and religious constraints. Had the first victim Odezulu reported her case to the police and the BRT authorities, Andrew may have been promptly checkmated. Second is the mentality of the police and their lame responses to citizens’ complaints. Usually, the police should be a friendly institution that will encourage victims to speak out but that has not been the case. Indeed, there is a trending story that complainants are forced to pay Fifty Thousand Naira before they are permitted to submit their petitions at a police formation in Lagos. Then the complainant has to fund the investigation, which has no standard measure but is always dependent on the benevolence of the investigating police officer and the status of the complainant. When Odezulu was asked by the defence counsel during her cross-examination if she reported the case at the police station, she said she did not do so because she has had a bad experience with the police at Jakande Police Station and that if she had reported they would have insulted her. The common experience of rape victims is to be accused of indecent dressing, prostitution and such other degrading epithets. Third is the distrust for public commuting and public transportation generally. If what befell Bamise could happen in a government facility, what then is the fate of commuters who patronize private operators daily? Hear Madam Odezulu: “After the incident, whenever I’m coming back from work and see any BRT bus, I used to look inside to see if it was him. I have seen him like four times at the Chevron Tollgate when he passed.” Imagine the trauma! Another major lesson to learn from the Bamise case is the intolerable delay in the administration of criminal justice. The trial started in 2022 and it was not concluded until 2025, spanning a long period of about three years. In the usual chequered history of trial of cases in Lagos, Bamise’s case is considered to have enjoyed accelerated hearing perhaps due to the direct involvement of senior officials  of the Ministry of Justice and the public attention given to the case. The lesson here is to develop a mechanism of speedy adjudication of cases in the courts so that parties will know their fate within a reasonable time.

Holistic Justice for Bamise

Justice in the Bamise case cannot and should not end with the verdict of the court, but should be extended to the family and her survivors. During the trial, the defendant was confirmed to be an employee of Lagos State, which brings the issue of vicarious liability of the employer into focus. The crime took place right inside the BRT facility owned and operated by the Lagos State Government. All worthy commendations go to the governor, the law enforcement agencies and the ministry of justice for following up with the case to the end. However, a life has been lost and it cannot be replaced. The concept of justice will not be complete in this case if there is no compensation for the Bamise family, in very reasonable proportions. Governor Sanwo-Olu paid compensation for all victims of EndSARS caused primarily by police officers not under state control. It should therefore not be difficult for the governor to pay Bamise’s family in a case which is directly connected to and perpetrated by an agent of government. That will be real justice for Bamise.