A Lagos-based lawyer and Notary Public, Ifenyinwa Christopher, has narrated how she was almost blinded by a shuttle driver who also robbed her of her possessions, including her mobile phone and money, along the Asaba–Benin Expressway in Delta State.

Christopher recounted her ordeal in an exclusive interview with Ekwutosblog Metro on Sunday.

The lawyer said she had travelled to Asaba to attend a burial ceremony scheduled to be held on Saturday.

She explained that she had gone out to buy some items on Friday when she chartered the shuttle bus in the airport area of the state, unaware that the driver was armed with a gun.

According to her, as the journey progressed and they reached the Ogwashi-Uku area, the driver suddenly brought out a gun, pointed it at her, and ordered her to drop everything she had on her.

She narrated, “On December 19, I chartered a shuttle around 8 p.m. While we were on the road around Ogwashi-Uku, he suddenly stopped and brought out a gun. He also started hitting me and asked me to put my head down. The entire area was dark, and there was nobody in sight.

“After collecting everything I had with me, he threatened to kill me and said that I was not as strong as those he had killed in the past. He also bites my eyelids. I begged him to let me come down, but he refused, so I kicked the door open and jumped down.

“When he realised that I had jumped down, he reversed the vehicle and ran over me twice. When he ran over me the second time, I jumped onto the expressway and he drove away.”

Christopher said she struggled to crawl into a nearby bush and hid there until daybreak on Saturday, when some villagers, alongside policemen from Akwukwu-Igbo, saw her and rescued her to a government hospital in the area.

She added, “I sustained injuries to my back and my eyes, so I crawled into the bush where I hid until daybreak. When day broke, I crawled back to the expressway, where some villagers and policemen took me to the hospital.

“The policemen told me that they had been receiving reports of armed robberies by shuttle drivers in that area.”

She urged the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Delta State Government to urgently look into the matter and address the security situation along the Asaba–Benin Expressway.

“The non-availability of traffic lights or police posts and checkpoints along the long stretches of the Asaba–Benin Expressway in Delta State made the robbery attack inside the shuttle easy.

“This incident underscores the need for the Delta State Government to ensure adequate security measures along the expressway. I also appeal to the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, to look into this matter.

“Moreover, the robber stated that he robs and kills regularly on the road and that he would kill me and nothing would happen,” Christopher said.

When contacted on Sunday, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, said he would find out about the incident and get back to our correspondent.

He had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

The Asaba-Benin Expressway has become notorious for robberies and kidnappings.

Ekwutosblog reported on June 6, 2022, that the Delta State Police Command gunned down three suspected kidnappers/armed robbers in the state.

Edafe had stated that on June 5, 2022, at about 12:35 pm, operatives of the Command’s Rapid Response Squad, while on an undercover anti-crime patrol along the Asaba/Benin expressway, some armed hoodlums suspected to be kidnappers, numbering about five, suddenly emerged from the bush at the Umunede area.