The things you need to know if you live in Abuja or visiting Abuja for your own safety or safety of others that security agents may not tell you.
Kindly share this on any platforms possible for loved ones to see and be cautious. Abuja is no longer safe.
1. ๐ข๐ป๐ฒ-๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ: is now on the increase since the Kuje prison break.
One Chance is a group of people (criminals) pretending to be different passengers with a driver travelling towards any destination you identify you are heading to, who have no plans of going there but with the motive to attack you, either for kidnapping for ransom, dupe you of your money and valuables or rob you at gun point.
Women are mostly victims of One Chance and the setting of a One Chance vehicle there must always be a woman, most times the woman may even carry a baby as the case may be.
Modus of operandi: they carry a woman alongside to make the passenger (their victim) believe that it is not a One Chance vehicle.
They start with stories like one of them has a bag full of money in the car trunk, claiming to run from another African country or another city with the money and needs where to change the dollar into naira and share with passengers. The driver will also be fully involved in the conversation with other passengers to convince their potential victim (mugu /maga) to completely fall into their trap.
I will not bore you too much because alot of people have known this style and many other styles.
Be very careful so you will not fall victim because the story you have heard about them might not be the same as the next tactic they may use.
2. ๐ก๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ ๐ข๐ป ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐: When driving towards evening or when it is dark and late hours, take note of these things.
If your car mistakenly stops anywhere, some hoodlums or even a person with a knife or any kind of weapon will move towards you sometimes pretending to come help you and comes close to you to attack you and snatch your valuables such as phones, laptops, money or any gadget.
They come with weapons mostly knife and other objects. They have attacked many people and killed in the city of Abuja in locations like;
โขCentral Mosque area,
โขCity Gate down to Lugbe,
โขMobushipe (Mabushi) bridge down to the Life camp roundabout which leads to Gwarinpa,
โขKubwa-Asokoro Express way,
โขApo Bridge area,
โขArea1 and its environ down to Area1 junction that leads to Games Village,
โขAirport Junction down to Dantata bridge before Lugbe and many locations in Abuja.
โขBerger Junction.
Tips: have a knife in your car or any iron for protection to aid you take cover for safety first if your car breaks down anywhere in Abuja.
When your car breaks down, the first priority is your life before the car, first take cover by looking for a safe place to secure yourself and seek for the help of police or civilians in a crowded area to come to your aide not a civilian in a lonely place.
On no account you should ever stop to urinate anywhere on the road if it’s getting dark for the day. You can only stop if you are seriously pressed where you see police checkpoint or large crowd of people.
After your safety, get people or mechanics to get your car towed from such locations before it gets vandalized immediately.
They go as far as throwing iron pins or stones on the road to deflect your car tyres so that you can stop to get robbed.
Do not obey traffic light at night or slow down to wait for traffick light to turn green before you move, take caution and drive against traffic light where you feel it is not safe but watch carefully when doing that not to hit another car.
If you drive slowly around traffic light or speed breakers you can be attacked, know this.
3. ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐: These are phone thieves who hang aroun anywhere there is Go Slow (traffic) as if they are hawking to snatch your phone if your car glass is wind down.
The common trick they use apart from picking your phone and run into the bush is one of them will hit your car from the driver side as if something is happening to your car, as you turn left to check what is happening, the second one is picking your phone from the right hand side (passenger side). You may not know immediately and if you notice immediately, they will escape with your phone or bag.
Be cautious to always wind up your glass where there is traffic or have your valuables items handy.
4. ๐ง๐ฎ๐
๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐: Taxi drivers especially unidentified ones can pick a passenger and pretend on the road that the car has developed fault to stop for you to be robbed. They have syndicates on the road and pretend the car develop fault in a particular location where he has his men mounted to rob you.
Be very careful when picking regular taxi in Abuja and also endure you check the trunk (boot) before you enter because the driver can keep someone in the boot to hack you from behind to rob or kidnap you. Always request to see the car boot befor you enter.
Any taxi you pick, ensure you copy the number plate information or the driver’s phone number as the case may be to send to a family member before the journey commences, and when doing that if possible let them hear you telling your family or friends the information.
5. ๐ช๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ด: This is similar to One-Chance but the difference is that One Chance is a group of people in a taxi that are not out to rob you at gun point but just to convince you to go home and bring more money.
Wee Kidnapping is more dangerous because when you mistakenly join their taxi with the One-Chance setting. You will be taken to a different route under duress where they will start attacking you with knife and other related weapons.
The position these gang always keep their victim is on the floor of the back seat, the victim will be forced to face the floor while they match the victim with their foot so that any passerby or police checkpoint won’t even notice and even if the victim is at the police checkpoint, the victim will not even know.
They will start calling the victim’s family to send money or they kill the victim.
They have POS machine where they usually withdraw money from the victim’s account with his or her ATM.
This Wee Kidnappers operate everywhere in Abuja and they can keep their victim from 6pm to 11pm as the case may be.
Some victims may not survive this after series of injuries and some may survive before drop off.
6. ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ด๐ด๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด: This mostly happens at any joint or hangout car parks even parking on your street.
When you park your car anywhere that looks unsafe, they have someone who monitors you when you park and sometimes watch where you are heading to while gang members carry out operations of breaking your car window to take valuables.
Some use chemicals while some use stones and any hard object.
This mostly happens during the rainy season and these gangs most times drive cars around to carry out this operation while some who carry out this act of criminality are pedestrians.
Note: never leave any item such as laptops, phones, money or any gadget in your car. If you must have any item in your car then ensure to keep them under the seat in a hidden place.
7. ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ป: This happens mostly close to traffic lights or during rainy season. One can pretend to have a car break down and when you try to stop to help, you get robbed. Some when you slowdown close to them, they snatch your phone or handbag and zoom off in their own car that seems to be spoilt.
8. ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด: There are many ways they steal cars in Abuja.
โขThose who move with different keys can steal your car if you park in an unsafe location. We know no where is really safe but try and park where there are many people.
Just know that some cars are prone to this, such as all Toyota products, some Honda but all German cars are not prone to this.
These set of thieves only move around because they have technical knowledge of cars and they don’t move with weapons.
โข When you return home late, always watch any car behind you, they can follow you to your gate and get you robbed there.
โขThose who move with weapons, they go as far as driving roughly and scratch your car, as you stop to complain, they will snatch your car and bundle you inside and zoom off. When they collect all your valuables such as phones and bag they strip you naked and drop you on the road. Before you get yourself together and probably look for what to cover, they must have moved far.
โขSome will claim to be police officers on patrol, they will try to stop you while in motion with their own vehicle. Watch carefully not to stop for anyone who claims to be police on patrol make sure you drive to a safe place before you stop for them.
9 ๐๐ผ๐น๐/๐จ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ/๐ง๐ฎ๐
๐ถ๐ณ๐ ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐: First caution even operators of these apps warned seriously about, check the details of your ride to correspond with the one you ordered.
โขDo not allow your cab to stop at any location or follow a lonely route at night especially if they are better and safe routes option. You are the one paying the bills so you can suggest a safe route.
โขDo not allow them to claim the car develop issue and want to stop in an unsafe location. Raise alarm immediately and call a family or friends to give them details and let the driver know you are giving out details.
โขNEVER book Bolt or Uber for a stranger. People sometimes meet in a clubhouse or joint and they claim their apps are bad or phone is down to use your phone and book for them or even make calls with your line, NEVER allow this.
10. ๐๐ฒ๐ธ๐ฒ(๐ง๐ฟ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ) ๐ข๐ป๐ฒ-๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ: This is common around Jabi, Utako, Apo and so many other areas.
This operation happens around early hours of the morning and evening till late hours.
Kรฉkรฉ will pick you as a passenger either drop or along and suddenly stop not far from where he picks you to pick some other strangers. As they come in they try to stab you with knife and other weapons, collect your valuables and push you out and zoom off. This operation happens within 2-3mins before you know you are either dead or terribly injured.
๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: Always join Along Taxi from a known location where conductors (Agbero) load cars for drivers. Do not stand on the road far from where conductors load cars to join a taxi full of people onboard leaving just one space for you to join.
Take note of taxis with just a woman, it has never been heard of that a One-Chance vehicle does not have a woman inside. It is safe to enter a taxi full of only men.
When you start hearing a conversation in a car where every passengers partake in, kindly ask the driver to stop you, raise alarm in a safe location (where you can see alot of people or police).
Do not contribute in any conversation with people in the taxi.
When coming out very early in the morning watch carefully the car/kรฉkรฉ you enter.
If you are a car owner, it is advisable to have an iron object in your car so you can protect yourself if your car breaks down.
On no account you should stop on the road at night. It is not safe anywhere to stop at night or early hour of the morning.
WARNING โ ๏ธ if your car breaks down, the first thing to do is to check if you can leave there immediately to a safe location first before you come back with a taxi or mechanic and while working on the car be prepared with an iron object or stone close to you.
โข Do not allow anyone to come close to you pretending to be a passerby coming close to help, warn such a person from afar not to come close and if he continues coming get hold of your weapon or objects with you.
โขIf your car breaks down, do not leave the car there for too long, it will be vandalized.
Do not wind up the windows and think locking yourself in the car to call your mechanic is safe.
โข Do not stop to lift anyone claiming to be panicking at night.
NOTE: Be more careful after reading these tricks because all mentioned here used on Mr. Opaluwa Ugbede Omera may not be the trick they will use on you.
