Bamise’s murder and the new dimension to one-chance robbery in Lagos

The kidnapping and gruesome murder of Oluwabamise Ayanwole, a 22-yr-old lady on a BRT vehicle is a tragedy that underscores the age-long incidence of one-chance robbery on Lagos roads.

On Saturday, February 26, 2022, Bamise, who worked as a fashion designer in Lagos and lived in Ota, Ogun State, was declared missing after boarding a BRT bus from Chevron in the Lekki area of Lagos.

Her destination was Oshodi, but she was never able to get out of the bus alive.

Days after she was declared missing, her decomposing body was found on Carter Bridge, Lagos Island.

While police operatives are still working to unravel the circumstances that led to Bamise’s killing, the fact that she was killed in a public bus of BRT standard is beyond belief.

Being a kidnap survivor is in itself a horrible ordeal, but Bamise was not only made to go through the mental torture of seeing herself ominously entrapped on a BRT bus, she was also killed in a manner no human should lose his/her life.

Some reports also suggested that she was raped on the bus before her body was thrown out on the bridge. A video of the driver, Andrew Nice, lends some credence to the claim when he said in his confession that he did ‘something dirty’ with the deceased.

Everything done to Bamise appeared premeditated. Ironically, all of this happened on a transport facility Lagosians consider safe and comfortable.

Many Lagosians prefer to use the BRT vehicles because of the belief that they are fast and free from the annoying sight of the miscreants in transport unions’ uniforms and the unchecked activities of one-chance robbers in the state.

In local parlance, one-chance is the lingo for robbery in transit.

It is a form of robbery in which perpetrators pose as transporters to lure unsuspecting passengers into their vehicles and then dispossess them of their belongings.

Lagosians who hit the road very early to avoid traffic and get to their workplaces as early as possible often fall victim to one chance robbers.

Usually, once these robbers take their victims’ phones, laptops, and ATM cards, they push them out of the vehicle in the middle of nowhere and zoom off.

But in Bamise’s case, her encounter with the criminal one-chance operator(s) did not leave her with the choice to recount her robbery-in-transit ordeal.

This tragedy has left many Nigerians to wonder how a BRT bus, a supposed government-controlled vehicle could be used for such nefarious activities.

Could this have been the first time a BRT bus would be used to kidnap anyone?

What could have been the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of many Nigerians who were declared missing and were never heard from till today?

Bamise’s murder has undoubtedly shattered whatever sense of safety Lagosians have internalised about using BRT buses for their intra-city transportation.

If a 42-seater bus, acquired by the state government could be used as a one-chance vehicle within the heart of the city by criminal elements, where is the safety in BRT?

It, therefore, behooves the government to take a bold step to address one-chance robbery in the city and also rejig the transportation system in a way that will make commercial vehicles safe for citizens.

And on Bamise’s murder, the Lagos State Government has just one responsibility; bring everyone involved to book. Bamise’s family must get justice for the murder of their daughter as soon as possible.

*Pulse Editor's Opinion is the viewpoint of an Editor at Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the Organisation Pulse.