Brave victim battles to reclaim bike from robbers
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Brave victim battles to reclaim bike from robbers

by Joseph Anthony
written by Joseph Anthony 131 views

Many days for the thief, one day for the owner. This popular saying aptly defines the violent episode of how Dennis Mejiren, 23, recovered his brand new purple Q-Link motorbike (Okada) moments after two armed men had dispossessed him of it at Otu-Jermi, headquarters of Ughelli South Local Government Area.

Dennis who re-lived the unforgettable experience said: “I took these two men, not far older than me, from Ubogo Junction in the morning of Wednesday May 21. We were heading to an agreed destination when they asked me to stop at the Jeremi Stadium. There, one of them pulled a seeming locally fabricated pistol. Pointing it at me, they asked me to come down from the bike after taking my money, over N2500 in my pockets.

“I did yield to their threat, but I jabbed the one holding the gun as they tried to make away with my bike. He fell, losing hold of the gun in the process. This happened at the Agbowhiame Road right in from of the Jeremi FM Radio Complex. The JFM gateman was watching the unfolding drama, with his big Alsatian dog barking. I called on the gateman to assist in fighting the robbers, but the sight of the gun discouraged him.”

According to him, the robber who tried to escape with the bike returned to the scene where he was wrestling his partner in crime. “With two against one, they overpowered me and zoomed off with my bike after one of them had hit me hard on my head with the gun three times, leaving me bleeding profusely from three cuts on the head.

“Luckily, a fellow Okada rider came along. I explained to him and we chased after them. At Agbowhiame, we were told they headed towards Erhuwaren. We followed that through Kiagbodor to Oviri Olomu where we sighted them on the Oviri-Ewu Road. The community vigilante communicated their Ewu counterparts, but they diverted towards Okparabe and we followed without their knowledge.”

In the climax of the drama, the robbers reversed by Okparabe community on sighting the community’s vigilante who had been alerted and waiting. “We were already on that road, so they were now riding towards us. I had disguised with the cap belonging to my Okadacolleague. So the robbers had no idea I was the one they had robbed and now chasing them.

“As they approached, I disembarked from the bike and started moving quietly towards them on their right of way. With a machete I borrowed from a local farmer, I cut the one riding my bike on one arm. They both fell from the bike and we and the locals swooped on them.”

Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Celestina Kalu who confirmed the incident gave the names of the arrested suspects as Victor Philip and Paul Ogilo. The Delta PPRO, however, held that the alleged gun the suspects employed in attacking Mejiren was only “pistol like”, while also referring to the victim’s bike as “unregistered.”

The victim, however, maintained thus: “What they pointed at me when they took my bike was a shot gun. And they meant to shoot me. My luck was the gun malfunctioned. I would have been dead.”

“When Police arrived the scene the robbers had been badly injured, the motorbike recovered and suspects confessed to the crime and others. Preliminary investigation is on,” DSP Kalu added.

The suspects and the recovered bike were still in custody at the Jeremi Divisional Police Headquarter. Mejiren who spoke to VM at Oginibo where he resides is still nursing pains on the stitches on his battered head. His final word was an appeal to the police authorities to release his bike.

“I just acquired the bike. I have valid proof of ownership and I appeal they release the bike to me to enable me continue with my okada work which is what sustains me,” he stated.

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