The Ogun State Police Command reported that on Friday night, armed bandits intercepted an Abakaliki-bound luxury bus, robbed all passengers, and then set it on fire.
Omolola Odutola, the spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, verified the event on social media.
She stated that the attack by the bandits occurred at Oke Ado junction in Ijebu Mushin on the Ijebu Ode-Ore-Benin motorway, where a luxury bus (Mercedes Benz) was burned down by armed criminals.
She added, “The vehicle was coming from Maza Maza before it encountered the hoodlums. No reference to the gun was made. They carried cutlasses.”
According to reports, the dare-devil bandits had earlier stripped all 59 occupants of the bus of their belongings and locked the vehicle from outside before setting it ablaze.
It was also reported that the passengers smashed the glass windows and jumped out of the bus before it was entirely destroyed by fire.
Also verifying the event, Ifesinachi Transport Nig. Ltd. management stated that the assaulted bus belonged to the company and that the vehicle left Maza Maza, Lagos, on Good Friday on route to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, expressing amazement at the incidence.
Survivors narrated their ordeal in a horrific video posted on the social media platform X (previously Twitter) by influencer Chude Nnamdi.
“Ifesinachi Motors, we were travelling in the night to come back to the East for Easter celebration, and criminals attacked us in Ijebu Ode along the Ore/Benin motorway,” one passenger lamented.
The victims reported how the bandits, armed and dangerous, took their things and subjected them to a horrific encounter.
“They robbed us of everything we had; some they stripped half-naked. They locked us inside the 59-seat luxury bus and set it ablaze,” another survivor recounted.
“We thank God that we later escaped; nobody died, but everything we had was collected. We thank God that we didn’t lose anyone, but we lost everything we were travelling with and some sustained injuries.
“The armed robbers attacked us at Ijebu Ode. They stripped us of our dresses and belongings and beat us mercilessly. They forced us back into the bus and set it ablaze. But we are grateful to God that nobody was burned to death because we all managed to escape from the burning vehicle.
“Though some of us sustained injuries, we all lost our belongings because the robbers took everything with them, including the clothes some of us were wearing. We have been stranded here since 2 a.m. (Saturday morning).”
