A Siena bus carrying people from the Okpara community in the Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State was attacked by gun-toting thugs.
When they were ambushed by the gunmen Tuesday night, the passengers had just boarded a train traveling between Itakpe and Warri, and some of them were being driven by a bus to their destinations.
The assailants opened fire on them, striking the driver, Mr. Kenoma Evwienure, with bullet wounds while the passengers escaped into the nearby bushes.
One month before to the attack, vigilante team members in the neighbouring Abraka town stopped suspected herdsmen from attacking the rail station.
Driver Evwienure, who spoke to Newsmen about the attack at the Ughelli Central Hospital, said: “On that tragic day, the train came late; ordinarily, it comes between 6.20 pm and 6.50 pm, but that day it arrived at nearly 9 pm. Unbeknownst to us, there were several armed men camped up near the rail station.
“I loaded some passengers that were going to Aghalokpe near Sapele; they were well dressed and it looked like they came for a ceremony. The first Okada took somebody and left. As l was going, a Keke was following me from behind. Suddenly, just about 200 metres from the rail station, some men jumped into the road and were flashing their touch lights.
“As l didn’t reduce my speed, they shot at the vehicle. Everybody was shouting ‘blood of Jesus’ and I didn’t stop. They had barricaded the road but l hit one of the barricades and they shot another bullet and I dodged to the left. Unknown to me, there was another guy by the left lurking in the corner.
“He shot at the door of the vehicle at close range. The bullets pierced through the door and hit my left lap. As l continued escaping, they shot sporadically not knowing that they shot the gearbox. The oil in the gearbox started pouring and the vehicle stopped after we have got to safety.
“That was how the passengers now disembarked and ran away. I came out of the vehicle but I couldn’t walk. I then crawled into the bush and it was an Okada rider that took me to a nearby hospital at Oviorie where I was given first aid treatment.
“I took X-ray which revealed that l have a fracture on my left leg and bullets deep down the bones and now l have been told l need over N400,000 to treat the leg.
“Luckily, the local vigilante and hunters came and chased the hoodlums away, because the people that were still at the rail station, on hearing the gunshots ran into the bush but some of the gunmen went after them as they couldn’t get us.
“My vehicle was destroyed and I am now battling to walk again because I can’t stand up now, but I am very glad that I was able to thwart the kidnapping efforts of the gunmen.”
When contacted, Mr. Bright Edafe, the state command’s police public relations officer, said: “What happened was that the train continued traveling after dropping off some people. The criminals made an assault attempt on those passengers as they boarded the car that would take them to town.
“The good thing was that it was not successful because the passengers opened the Siena and ran into the bush. Nobody died except the driver that was hit by a bullet.”
