JIB HEARTS: One Chance Chanced Me!!! (PART ONE)

For those who do not know what One Chance means, it's simply when a person boards a bus or taxi and ends up getting attacked, robbed and even abducted by the occupants, including the driver, enroute. 

The occupants of the bus may either be unsuspecting passengers or the band of criminals - this means that the thieves may rob all the passengers on the bus or like in my case, the bus looks to have other passengers whereas they are all thieves who rob a sole victim.

If it was robbery, they usually take one away from the destination that was called out to the victim(s) before boarding and perform this horrible act while the bus is in motion. I read on other blogs that the buses or taxis are usually unmarked, this is not always true as I was robbed on a marked bus with registration plates sef. 

I hope this has painted a picture of what the "ONE CHANCE" experience means. 

Now let me share my traumatic experience: 

"On Monday the 19^th of June, at about 5:00 AM, I boarded the wrong bus. 

I had just closed from my shift and was heading to another appointment. Immediately I sat on the bus, I knew something was wrong and I was prepared to be robbed; if there is anything like that.

Suddenly, someone grabbed my neck in a choke hold and covered my mouth while another from behind grabbed my bag. The one who had grabbed my neck lifted me off the seat (bear in mind that my neck is still in his grip) while the other two lifted my legs off the floor and I was laid flat on my back on the floor of a moving bus.

I screamed “Jesus” for about 4 to 5 times while the man closest to the door took off my shoes. I couldn’t see where the bus was taking me to but I knew the driver had changed course because the bus turned not quite far from where I had boarded. 

In my head, I wondered if they were taking me away, if this was not a mere robbery, I wondered where I would end up and if anyone would stop the bus before they took me there but then I felt a peace in my heart…a knowing that I wouldn’t die that day.

I had a 100 naira note in my hand to pay the fare when I boarded the bus so while they were distracted, I slipped the money into the tank top which was underneath my lacy top.

The driver and another man were in front. The row directly behind the driver had three men; one who acted as the bus conductor, two others – each lifted me off the seat by my throat and leg respectively; then maybe one or two behind went through my hand bag.

Then the operation began.

They took my small phone and went through my messages to see the bank accounts I had. Then the three who held me to the floor begun to ask me questions. Where I worked, where I lived, what state I was from, where was my other bank card, why didn’t I have it, et cetera.

The one who had been going through my bag called out to say he couldn’t find my phone, so the man who acted as the bus conductor handed me the small phone to call my other number. I told him to check the bag, that my phone was in the bag. He asked me which kind of phone it was, I told him it was an iPhone, moments after which the ‘bag searcher’ said he had found the phone.

Then they asked me for my passcode to the phone, I told them and the one with the phone checked to see that it was true. They  told me to transfer the money from my other bank account whose card wasn’t in my purse to the account of the card that they had found in my purse; this was so that they could then withdraw the money with the ATM card whose pin I had also told them.

Fortunately, this bank didn’t make mobile banking as easy as the other bank; one had to go the bank with the phone to activate either mobile or internet banking. I have never, now with proof, would never be a fan of online banking so I hadn’t to the bank to get them to activate the mobile banking. The thieves didn’t know this, so I kept trying to transfer and the one closest to me, who had choke-held me, could see the error reports as I kept trying and trying. That man kept telling me how he would rape me if I didn’t do exactly what I was told to do. I told him I hadn’t lied about anything and I was trying but it wasn’t working. He asked me for my other bank number and I called out the number twice while the conductor who had my small phone confirmed that I was telling the truth because he had found the account number on my phone.

 After a while, they took the phone back from me and told me that they were going to drop me off now. They helped me off the floor and placed me on the seat I was on when I first boarded the bus. In a low voice, I said; “Please don’t push me off”, the one who had lifted my legs off the floor of the bus assured me that I wouldn’t be pushed off. 

He then promptly checked the collar of my top to see if I had any jewelry on, I told him I didn’t wear jewelry but the conductor checked again and slid his hand lower to see if it was hidden because I had a turtle neck top on. "

Remember that I had hidden money in my blouse, right?

To be continued......