The Guardian journalists robbed in Lagos traffic

Two journalists working with The Guardian Stanley Akpunonu and Ngozi Egenuka, were, on Tuesday night, attacked by armed robbers who dispossessed the duo of their valuables at Cele Bus Stop, on the Oshodi-Apapa expressway.
 
The duo said that they were beaten with cutlasses by the robbers numbering five, while some others also brandished guns before carting away two Android phones, one iPhone, cash and a laptop, all worth over N300,000.
 
Narrating the incident, Ngozi, said: “We were in a bus heading to Mile Two, but at Cele Bus Stop, the tyre of the bus we were in got burst while in traffic. We all came down to collect our balance when suddenly, the armed robbers appeared to attack us. One of them put a gun to Stanley’s head, saying ‘Don’t shout or I will shoot. Oya bring out your phone.’”
 
She added that one of them used cutlass to hit her head three times while she was refusing to release her phone to them before her bag was forcefully taken from her.
 
Stanley described the experience as traumatising.
 
“It was traumatising for me. A gun was pointed at me and my phones and laptop were taken away from me.”
 
The driver and conductor of the bus they boarded managed to escape before the robbers surrounded the passengers. According to the reports by other passengers who got robbed in other buses, after the attack, the robbers proceeded to steal from other motorists in the traffic along the route.
 
Attempts to get a new SIM card have been futile due to the new Federal Government policy on National Identification Number (NIN) registration and stoppage of the registration of new lines.