14 passengers of a luxury bus robbed and crushed to death at Zariagy-Kabba

Nigerians are a greatly disadvantaged people. First, the majority among the people do not know their rights, and the little that have an idea don’t bother to enforce these rights.

If Boko Haram doesn’t bomb innocent Nigerians, armed robbers will shoot and kill. If armed robbers forget to do their job, the Nigerian police will shoot at innocent people. If the Nigerian Police is silent for a while, it will be the case of an army officer that ferments trouble somewhere. What of hired killers, stray bullets, frustration due to the absence of basic amenities, fraud, political turmoil, religious crisis, spiritualists?, the list is endless.

Is it a crime to be a Nigerian?

Crime in Nigeria is at an all-time high, and our so called Politicians are not talking about it. The Nigerian consitution which does not uphold the rights of any Nigerian has no place for self defense.

One thing I don’t like about the Obasanjo Government is that he introduced mobile-phones instead of guns. If guns were introduced, now, we would be talking about Gun-Registration instead of mobile-phone registration. Crime would have reduced, the Police would have removed the mouth of their guns from the fore-heads of road-users. They would have learned to respect civilians. Even the army would not just harrass anyone they feel like harrasing. Armed robbery would have reduced because the possibility that armed robbery targets will shoot back at them(armed robbers) will be well-considered.

And honestly, rather than buying NGN100,000+ (a hundred thousand Naira plus) worth of black-berry phones, I would have invested in a solid AK47. And even all those killed by the Boko Haram might have defended themselves.

A little over a year ago, it was horrow along the Lagos Ibadan expressway. Now, it has happened again – read below.

The formular for armed robbery along Nigeria’s inter-state highways is this: they stop buses / vehicles and telli their passengers to come out and lie down in the middle of the road; so that other oncoming vehicles will have pity and stop – thus allowing them(armed robbers) to continue robbing the newcomers. In the process, oncoming vehicles refuse to stop, and then run the people over. :

BY ISIAKA OYIBO
LOKOJA: It was another tragic story yesterday as 14 passengers of a luxury bus who fell into the hands of armed robbers were crushed by another luxury bus, while many others sustained serious injuries along the Zariagy-Kabba Road junction.

The incident which occurred around 5.30 am attracted sympathizers and led to a heavy traffic gridlock at the ever busy Kabba federal highway for almost three hours.

The sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission, Mr. Sunday Maku who confirmed the incident to newsmen, said the accident occurred following a reported case of armed robbery along the route early in the mourning.

According to the sector commander, “we got a distress call that some armed robbers had intercepted a luxury bus at the Zariagy-Kabba junction at Zariagi, just some few kilometers to Kabba junction were they ordered the passengers to alight from the bus and forced them to lie face flat on the main road.

“As the passengers were still lying on the road, the driver of another luxury bus was unaware that there were people lying on the road and coming in high speed went over them killing fourteen of them on the spot.”

He gave a breakdown of those that lost their lives in the tragic indent to include 10 men, three women and a little girl.
The corpses of the deceased, according to the FRSC boss had been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre FMC and State Specialist Hospital Lokoja. He, therefore, urged all those whose families and relations traveled and had not returned to check the hospitals for possible identifications of the victims.

The police spokesman, ASP Osunkanmi Ajayi, when contacted on the issue, also confirmed the development just as he noted that the luxury bus that overran the deceased had been impounded and was in police custody.

“The police are also closing up on the armed robbers and we shall soon get at them, “he said.

source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/08/luxury-bus-crushes-14-armed-robbery-victims/

Note, my emphasis in this post is not violence, but self-defense. This is a basic right of every human being. If you cannot defend yourself, the potential of your becoming a victim is 100%.

Honestly, I believe its time for Nigerians to start defending themselves. The Police cannot even secure themselves, talk less of securing me and you. Our politicians never ply these same roads (they take flights), so they dont know what is happening.

Your comments and opinions are welcome.

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