I featured the news about the Lagos state 767 distress number last April. Now, heres a testimony. This is some good news hey, Eko o ni baje o
767: The number works
SIR: At 10.55 a.m., the other day, a client and I left my office in Osborne Phase 1 to check the progress of work on our house at Osborne Phase 2 and inspect our other construction projects in the area. We had finished the inspection and were about to leave Misa Courts when gunshots ran out.
My client, a Nigerian who is planning to relocate to Nigeria after 20 years in the UK, looked at me and asked, “Did I just hear gun shots?” “Yes” I said non-chalantly and continued walking. But it got to a stage that even I had to take notice and stopped walking. I remembered that on a visit to my aunty, Mrs. Gbadamosi, in April 2008 she told me of a 767 number for the Rapid Response Squad and made my sister and I save the number on our phones.
Well, to cut a long story short, I called the number at 11.40a.m.. It rang once, a man introduced himself as Tokunbo in a polite, civil manner and asked why I was calling. He asked me questions to get as precise a location as possible (opposite Dolphin, just before the bridge leading to Sura Market/Simpson Street ), told me the RRS would be on the way shortly and thanked me for calling. In Nigeria!!!! 93 seconds after I called (I checked) we heard sirens!
I don’t know if this was in response to my call or maybe someone else had called earlier, but the police and soldiers engaged the robbers in a fire-fight for 27 minutes. A stray bullet even fell into our compound where my client and I were now cowering.
At the end of it all, one of the armed robbers was captured and whisked off to God knows where. My client and I waited for 15 minutes before venturing out of the estate. “Is that it” he asked “and everyone just continues as if nothing happened?” “Yes” I answered “life continues. So……the number DOES work. The RRS does catch armed robbers. Let’s praise and encourage them when they get it right. Kudos to them.
By the way, my client was not put off coming back to Nigeria. Rather he felt better because he saw the police/soldiers in action. The robber was caught 30 metres from where we were. Peeking out on the balcony, we had a bird’s eye view of everything. He was impressed that the soldiers took away the robber before the crowd pounced and dealt with him.
Bunmi Ibraheem
Lagos
source: 767, The Number works
Eko ba’je ti.