Friday 26th November 2021: With Christmas lurking around the corner, commuters and motorists are worried over the resurgence of traffic robbers in the Lagos metropolis.
  A motorist, Goddy Ezuka has descibed how thugs forcefully demanded money from him and other drivers with a threat to attack them if they fail to cooperate.
 Ezuka said, it was around 8:00p.m, while he was returning from work along Iyana-Oworo- 7-UP toll gate, which is often manned by police, that these miscreants pounced on him and other motorists held in traffic and broke his windscreens in an attempt to rob him.
 In a related event, another witness, who passed through Ojota about 9:00 p.m. on Monday, also said he witnessed moments a dark-complexioned young man in shorts and a T-shirt waltzed into the side of a black Prado SUV stuck in traffic around Freedom Park.
 The fellow knocked on the front windscreen and vehemently asked the driver for money but the latter resisted.
 As the thug attempted to bring out a weapon, the driver, a middle-aged man, quickly handed a naira note to him. He fled into the lawn afterwards.
 He added that some Policemen and their van was stationed some metres away from the spot where the incident happened.
 Apart from pouncing on motorists, the robbers have also adopted new tactics, where they pose as commercial motorcyclists that are waiting to pick passengers.
One of the robbers will pretend to be a passenger, while another will pose as a commercial motorcyclist.
 On getting an unsuspecting passenger, the one posing as a passenger will climb at the back of the unsuspecting passenger and along the way, they will attack and dispossess him of his possession. On getting one, a member of the gang pretending as a passenger will join at the back, thereafter they will rob the passenger of his valuables.
 A passenger who narrated his experience at Toyota bus stop said: “When I got to the Toyota bus stop, I stopped a bike going to the airport road, so I can drop at 7/8 bus stop, you know that they usually carry two passengers at once.
“When I boarded the bike, the rider was waiting for the second passenger. I should have known earlier when many passengers were trooping out of Ladipo market, and yet, the rider was not calling any of them.
 “Few minutes later, a guy came and the rider called 7/8, Airport junction and the guy immediately jumped on the bike and we moved on.
 “Immediately the rider got under the bridge, he stopped, and the passenger behind grabbed me, gave me a slap and began to ransack me.
“I thought it was a joke, not until he brought out a very long screwdriver and attempted to pierce my neck.
 “After some struggle, I got overwhelmed because they were two armed guys and they seriously beat the hell out of me after they had injured me on my hand with the screwdriver.
 “They made away with my phone, stripped me of all my belongings, mount their bike and spirited down the bridge towards Mile two.”
When contacted, the Lagos State Police Command said while reacting to this development that the situation is under control.
  The spokesperson for the command, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the cases of traffic robberies in the metropolis do not suggest a resurgence considering the population of Lagos.
Ajisebutu also assured  Lagos residents  of the Command’s efforts to tackle crime in all corners to ensure a safer Lagos for all during the forthcoming yuletide.
 He said: “We are mindful of the fact that Christmas is coming, and we have planned ahead of Christmas. So, there should be no course for alarm at all.
 “However, we want to appeal to members of the public that if they should experience any traffic robbery, they should as quickly as possible report to the nearest police station, to enable us to take appropriate action.”