The family of a 21-year-old tailor, Bamise Ayanwole, has
raised the alarm over her alleged abduction by a driver of the Lagos Bus
Services Limited.
The said Bamise’s whereabouts had been unknown since she
boarded an LBSL bus, popularly known as BRT, at the Chevron area of Lekki en
route to Oshodi on February 25, 2022.
It was gathered that the Ekiti State indigene boarded
the bus at 7:30pm and became suspicious when the yet-to-be-identified driver
told her to sit at one the back seats.
A source, who did not want to be named, said Bamise, who became uncomfortable, sent out voice notes and a short clip to express her concern to one of her friends.
“On her way home, the driver picked up two men and one
woman. This made her calm down a bit. Then she told us she would alight at Oworonshoki.
We called her and noticed something was unusual about the way she was talking.
We tried to reach out to her again but her phone was unreachable; then we
waited a bit, thinking it was probably (due to a) low battery, only for her
parents to contact us on Sunday that Bamise wasn’t home yet and since then we
have been at the Oshodi BRT Terminal 3. We were told to sit and wait for the
driver to come. The driver did not show up,” the source added.
In a series of voice notes exchanges between Bamise and a
friend, which were shared on social media, she was heard telling the friend in
Yoruba that the bus stopped to pick her up but did not pick other passengers.
Sensing danger, she was said to have made a short video
showing the silhouette of a driver and what looked like the vehicle number.
The clip, which was obtained by City Round, also showed that
the bus was not well-lit.
Her mother was seen in a video trending on social media
wailing in front of a bus numbered, 240257, in one of the terminals of LBSL,
said to be the bus Bamise had boarded.
“This is the vehicle that Bamise boarded. It has been
parked. They say they cannot find the driver. Bamise boarded the vehicle at
Ajah and said she was coming to Oshodi. The vehicle got to its destination but
the child did get home. We can’t find her. They must find Bamise for me. I
didn’t tell her to go to Lagos to die,” she lamented.
The missing lady’s elder brother, James, told our
correspondent on Friday that Bamise was heard struggling with someone on the
bus during last phone conversation with her.
James said the family had been having sleepless nights since
the 21-year-old went missing.
He said, “The driver took to his heels. As we speak, he is
at large. We learnt that he no longer resides where he claimed he resided. It
is a case of kidnapping.
“If the driver were
available, we may have said it was a case of a missing person. Moreover, she
boarded the bus and three people were picked up along the road. When she was
called, she didn’t pick up her call. When she picked, she was heard struggling
with a man, so this is not a case of a missing person. I believe this
(kidnapping) has been ongoing.
“From my little investigation, I discovered that the company
does not have proper documentation of their drivers. We learnt that the driver
moved from where he claimed to be living over a year ago and his guarantor
doesn’t live where he claimed to be living. The company is trying to push us aside
and keep it away from the press. Our parents are aware but they aged, so we had
to convince them that all is well. But we have been having sleepless nights.”
A woman, Caroline Oni, who identified herself as Bamise’s
former mistress, said the family had been informed that LBSL drivers were not
officially allowed to pick passengers in the area from 6pm as they were
supposed to return the buses empty to the terminal.
Police launch manhunt
for driver, arrest guarantor
However, the police said they were investigating a case of a
missing person, adding that the suspect’s guarantor had been arrested.
“The case has been transferred to the state CID. We are
investigating the case. We have the guarantor of the driver in our custody
helping us with our investigation. We are on it. We will continue to update
you,” the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said.
When contacted, the Public Affairs Officer of the Lagos Bus
Services Limited, Afolabi Olawale, said the company would await the outcome of
the police investigation before making its position known.
“Presently, the police and the Department of States Services
are on top of it,” Olawale said.
When our correspondent asked him whether he could confirm
whether the suspect was an employee of LBSL, he said, “It is only the police
that will answer that question.”
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