Ambode’s former aide narrates how he was robbed in traffic

Ekene Okoro, a former aide of Akinwunmi Ambode, ex-governor of Lagos state, was on Wednesday night attacked by suspected armed robbers in the Cele axis of Oshodi-Apapa expressway of the state. 

Okoro disclosed this via a post on his Facebook page. He said he was on his way to his residence at Ago Palace in Okota when he was attacked.

According to him, he was trying to manoeuvre his way from the traffic that had built up on the road when two young men armed with a machete and pistol  approached his car, saying “Oga, wind down your glass or I go break am.”

Okoro, who described the incident as traumatising, said he complied with the directives of his attackers having remembered his colleague with a similar experience.

He explained that after giving them his phone, wristwatch and the cash with him, the men asked him to alight from the car, which he would later understand was a gimmick to block the road and aid them to rob other unsuspecting motorists.

“Unfortunately for them, I had only N1,800 in the hand-rest of my car. It was N2,000 a few minutes before the incident, but since the brand new Airport Road had become my favourite route in recent times, I had parted with N200 at the Toll Gate. I offered them the cash and my Tecno phone. They were unimpressed. ‘Oga come down jor,’ they ordered me, preferring to conduct the ultimate search themselves,” Okoro said.

“Flashing lights from the cars at the rear, perhaps gave away my watch as one instructed me to take it off my wrist, while the other continued the frantic search, scattering my documents and papers in the pigeon hole.

“Done with me, they ordered me to move. At this point, I felt they wanted to use me as a bait to raid other vehicles behind. The rain kept pouring, there I was, barefooted (I had taken off my shoes earlier to free my legs a bit), walking in the rain. I felt like laughing, it seemed like a scene from a movie, but it was real and I was the main character.

“As soon as I saw that they were distracted with their next victim, I zoomed off. The first thought was to run far away from the scene, second thought was to head back to my car and zoom off.

“I listened to the second thought. I sneaked back to my car, approaching from the front and hoped to jump in and zoom off. Alas! they had taken my key as a collateral damage. My car needed to be motionless in order to create articifical traffic and trap more victims.

“Realising this, I stood by my car, hands akimbo, watching as the boys had a field day moving from car to car. Some put up a fight, some complied like me. Those who resisted, had their windows shattered.

“Satisfied, they made their way to the other side of the road to the waiting arms of an okada rider, perhaps the third man in the team.

“At this point, I summoned courage and approached them. “Bros, what of my key na”, I asked. I beckoned again, this time speaking their native language. One searched his pocket for it and offered to throw it to me than have me approach them, maybe for fear of the unknown.

“I collected my keys and continued my journey. Too many thoughts at that point raced through. I had really lost nothing to them, the experience was unbelievable to say the least.”

Several cases of armed robbery attacks have been recorded across the state.

In April, Stephen Urueye, a serving doctor at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), was stabbed to death near the hospital after his assailants seized his personal belongings.