Upper Iweka Onitsha: The New Terrorists' Zone And Den of Thieves

This is to warn our friends and relations that might be coming down South East or passing through Onitsha this festive period. It's a true life story by a victim of phone snatching gang at Upper Iweka Onitsha.
My Story: The rate, the ease, the impetuous and the authority with which idle youths and vagabonds at upper-Iweka flyover Onitsha use to snatch bags and phones from unsuspecting travellers especially this Christmas season is too alarming and need urgent attention and intervention by the security agents.

An eye witness account of our encounter with these idle hooligans and phone snatchers yesterday 10/12/2018, at 5:15pm at Owerri Road down flyover still left me wondering on the future of our youths in Nigeria.
I boarded a bus heading to Nnewi with my friends and others, and were greeted with a heavy gridlock as we moved down the Owerri road part of the flyover. This resulted to a very slow movement of buses almost to a stand still and the bus windows were lowered for ventilation. Unaware of how these boys operate, two passengers in the back seat were making calls with their phones. From the lowered window, one of the boys stretched his hand from outside and swiftly snatched the Android phone from her, walked sharply to his counterpart, hand it over to him and came back for the second person still in the back seat to demand for her phone too.

As the passenger raised alarm pointing at the boy that just snatched her phone, the driver stopped, opened the door and just at the same time, other gang members numbering about five surrounded our bus demanding and threatening to shoot the other passenger if she refused to hand them over that phone she is making calls with. At this moment it dawned on us that we were under siege, and with the bus full of women with only one elderly man and the driver as the only men in the bus, we were paralyzed, trusting only God to save us. As the woman hid her phone, refusing to hand it over to them, one of the gangs asked their leader to shoot. "Shoot her on her stomach if she refuses to bring that phone," he ordered.
The leader drew up his shirt, put his hand inside his trouser as if he was about to bring out weapon, hesitated a moment and asked the woman for the phone again and again. At this moment, other passengers added to the woman's voice insisting they should leave us alone and the next moment, the gangs left and there comes a sigh of relief. Whether it was an empty threat or divine intervention, we were only grateful to God that nobody was physically harmed and our hand bags were safe with us.

Our hearts felt for the first unfortunate passenger and attempts were to call MTN to block the line so that those thieves don't empty her bank account. As we narrated the incident among ourselves as the journey continued, the driver told us that the incidents took place every moment, on daily basis at that flyover while the police officers, few steps away, were busy using the gridlock opportunity to collect money from loaded buses.

My advice: pls warn your loved ones passing through Onitsha upper Iweka flyover to be careful and vigilant at all times and avoid using their phone while on gridlock with car windows down until that zone is safe again. Pls share this massage to concerned citizens, security agents for immediate action and mass media for public enlightenment.

Thanks and God bless you.
From a concerned Anambrarian: Mrs Idikachoro.