A commercial driver, Godwin Deewii, has narrated how he escaped gun-wielding kidnappers with 18 passengers along the Abonema-Degema-Emuoha Road in Rivers State.
Punch Metro learnt that Deewii said the gunmen wanted to hijack his fully loaded bus travelling from Abali Park in Port Harcourt to Abonema, a Kalabari-speaking community in the Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of the state.
While speaking on a radio station in Port Harcourt (Nigeria Info), monitored by our correspondent, he disclosed that the miscreants emerged from a nearby bush and tried to stop him, but sensing danger, he accelerated and sped off.
Deewii said the hoodlums shot in his direction, but he managed to escape with all the occupants of the vehicle through a bad spot at a popular junction, Isreal-Ama.
“Their plan was to kill me, to destabilise my movement so they could get the bus and my passengers. But God gave me wisdom; I was able to jump through the gallop and save everybody,” he added.
The commercial bus driver, who sustained gunshot injuries, however, expressed dismay that none of the passengers appreciated his courage.
The incident was reported at the Abonema Police Station.
The spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, said there had been reduced attacks on the route.
She said,” The Commissioner of Police recently deployed a tactical team to that area, and if you check, there have been reduced attacks there.”
