Dear Friends,

I appeal that you be very careful as we approach the festive periods. It's quite certain that the Nigerian roads are either plagued with robbers and kidnappers and are accident prone. Also, I suggest you choose your transport company carefully.


MY UNCLE'S EXPERIENCE

My uncle was travelling with his wife and one of his sons for burial only for him to be blocked off by some Fulani herdsmen that kidnapped them and demanded for ransom. The herdsmen were 10 in number and had sophisticated weapons. When they blocked off my uncle, he revearsed swiftly and drove way into the village till his car fell in a ditch. The criminals traced them and emptied his bags and that of his wife and son and took everything they had, took their foodstuff, drank their stew, etc.

They told my uncle that he had stopped to buy fuel around that Benin bypass and that's where they started trailing him. They saw his appearance and knew he's the type that'll yield. They even threatened to shoot his son, thinking his son was the one that drove the car into the village path when they made to block him off before he told them he was the one that drove the car and not his son.

Ironically, a police station was only about 2.5 kilometers from the place my uncle and his fam were kept while the policemen in that station towed their car from the ditch (about 1.5Km from where my uncle and his fam were kept) to their station. Inspire of the closeness of the police station to the scene of the crime, the police pretended not to know anything was happening there while it seemed like they secretly provided protection to this gang.

These men had my uncle call his first son and his brothers and told them to bring the ransom. They threatened that if my uncles and their son should ever contact the police that their captives will be killed. They went further to say that they work hand in hand with the police. Upon waiting for the ransom they negotiated with my uncles, they started telling their captives how what they were doing was like their daily thing as they usually left 3 people there to guide their captives while 7 goes out to rob and probably bring in more captives. By the way, my uncle, his wife and son weren't the only captives there. They said they knew all the bush parts and everywhere linking Benin bypass to the bushes. That they never travel by expressway, only bush parts.

The ransom was later paid with my uncle freed.

My advise to you all that will be travelling with your private car,
- If it's possible and you have more than one car, use the cheaper one.
- Don't dress fancy and don't show off cash when you wanna buy fuel.
- Don't stop at Benin bypass, rather, stop at Ore if possible.
- Don't use expensive perfumes (body spray or roll-on should do).
- If paraventure you hear of more robberies and kidnapping, then I'll suggest you use the Benin City route rather than Benin bypass route.

MY EXPERIENCE

I boarded an ANIDS bus to my state on my way home for my uncle's burial. The very bus I and my elder bro boarded was the second bus that very day and it was almost a disaster for us. Since I wasn't a regular at ANIDS, it took me to that very day to realize that ANIDS drivers are arrogant, insulting and lack work etiquette.
The driver of that bus failed to inspect the tires of his vehicle, including the spare tire, in order to ensure the bus was fit to ply the road. Worst thing was that the vehicle was loaded with two 200Ah batteries with other heavy load meant for waybill delivery. In essence, we had bad tires and also had heavy loads that the owners weren't in the bus.

We started off and immediately after arriving Ogun state capital, our left-back tire got deflated and we stopped at a roadside vulcanizer to have it pumped. Driving for close to 30mins, same thing happened again, which in this case,the driver decided to bring the almost dead spare tire to change for the other deflated one. A passenger advice the driver at that point to have the bad tire repaired before we left but the driver arrogantly waved off the suggestion.

We continued our journey and at approximately 1 hour later, the changed spare tire bursted into bits as the driver had to drive on the rim of the back-left tire to where we parked. He ignored us in the bus at that thick forest, took the other damaged tire and made out to fix it. We waited for him for over 2 hours as we flagged off other ANIDs buses to speak assistance from them. The driver later arrived after we had helped him change the spoilt tire and instead of the fôol being grateful, started dolling out insults on a passenger that asked him to move one battery to one of the other ANIDS buses. This vexed the brother of the lady the driver was insulting and he pushed the driver which resulted in a fight. Both were separated but the driver wouldn't calm down as he was behaving like a mad man. It was bad up to the point that policemen over there at a checkpoint couldn't calm him down. He threatened thunder and brim stone and before we later left there, we had wasted over 4 hours. One other driver of the same company, driving one of the buses that stopped and offered us help almost got into a fight with his own passengers too.

My advise is, avoid ANIDs buses like plague but if you must take their buses, ensure you avoid engaging the driver, even if he takes a dump on your head.


Wish you all a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year in advance.

lagmostkuit:
Only God saves!

Op, thank God for your uncle and his family's life!

Yeah, thanks.. Imagine being made to sleep in the bush for days... Thank God he and his fam came out alive..

Thanks bro....... I'm planning to travel next month. But I'm scared.
May God save us.

Thanks bro....... I'm planning to travel next month. But I'm scared.
May God save us.

danakins:
Thanks bro....... I'm planning to travel next month. But I'm scared.

May God save us.

Just chose a good transport company..

God is Good - is expensive but their services are top class. Also, their drivers don't drive recklessly..
The Young Shall Grow - expensive but safe too. Services not as fantastic as GIG
Chisco,
GUO
etc are OK too.

But if you're going in a private car, then try as much as possible not to stop at Benin bypass