Bamise: Medical Doctor Narrates How She Escaped Being R*ped By Arrested BRT Driver

The BRT driver

Onyinyechi Anoke, a Nigerian medical doctor, has narrated how she escaped an alleged attempted r*ped by Nice Omininikoron, the driver of the Bus Rapid Transit vehicle arrested in connection with the murder of a passenger, Oluwabamise Ayankole.

This is coming few hours after a lady, who once boarded a BRT bus driven by the embattled driver accused him of r*ping her when she boarded his vehicle on November 25, 2021.

The female victim had in an interview with PUNCH revealed that she had boarded the vehicle at night and was the only passenger, an opportunity which Omininikoron seized to defile her.

Many Nigerians have registered their displeasure on various social media platforms and called for an urgent prosecution of the driver in the interest of justice.

They also urged other female passengers to speak up on their encounters with the BRT drivers in Lagos State.

There have been calls for justice for Bamise, whose corpse was recovered at Ebute Ero, after she was last seen on the BRT bus driven by Omininikoron.

In a Facebook post published on Wednesday, Anoke, a medical doctor, who is in her late 20s, said she was returning from a friend’s house on the day she had an encounter with the BRT driver.

She said she tried booking Uber, a mobility service provider, for a trip back to her destination in Ketu but the booking was not successful because the drivers were far from her destination.

The medical doctor added she and her friend who escorted her to the bus stop decided to opt for a commercial bus instead and after some time of waiting a BRT bus arrived, and she boarded.

During the trip, she said she observed that the driver did not follow the special lane meant for BRT buses but instead decided to follow the normal lane.

She said the BRT bus driver did not pick up any passenger in subsequent bus stops.

According to her, she began to sense danger when the bus driver began to ask questions about her personal details while also making love advances.

“He (referring to Andrew) talked about spending the night with him, and all the nonsense, but I politely deflected with the excuse that I’ve already stayed out much later than agreed and my parents were calling me, but that I could see him the next day, or even spend the entire weekend (weekend I would already be in Asaba ),” she wrote on Facebook.

“It’s actually not funny. From the conversation he said his name was Andrew, he doesn’t usually ply that route, that he’s more on the Island, and lives in Sagamu and would most likely not see me again, that I’m scamming him.

“By this time, he had gotten to the next bus stop, still refused to pick anybody, instead moved ahead a bit and parked, and put out the bus lights. There was stark darkness within, though the street lights illuminated the surroundings so I could see people but no one could see me.

“How do I signal these passers-by for help? Everywhere was still tightly locked in all of this so all conversations were contained within. He said we should move to the back row and talk better.

“My body language kept speaking unease, and I kept looking at my wrist watch signalling to him that I was late and we could meet earlier the next day, anywhere he wanted and talk as long as he wanted.

“By this time, he had already collected my phone numbers (yeah, he ensured to collect the 2 lines he saw on my phone, dialed both to ensure I wasn’t giving him wrong numbers and saw them ring). As earlier said, my best bet at safety was to go with the flow, while strategising for better options, and so I did.

“Baba dragged me by the hands, and as usual I didn’t struggle but followed him to the back row. By now it was established in my head that this is most likely going to end as an attempted but failed r*pe case (I didn’t even think for a second that it was going to be successful.

“My fight response was on a high and I racked my brain for all the possible things I could do to temporarily subdue him and be hitting the bus till people from outside noticed me.

“I’d had three such previous attempts in younger years and God somehow always helped me escape untouched from those locked rooms so he wouldn’t allow this infidel to do this now. I would rather die than let it happen (though the picture in my head was more of me harming him with his weapon if he brought out any).

“I had a feeling he might stab me and I kept looking out for any attempts of him bringing out a pocket knife and how I was going to struggle for and collect it (blame too much crime and thriller novels).

“As he made to run his hands on my body indiscriminately, I subtly pushed him away, curled into myself and used my elbow as a wedge. He flared up, saying if I said I liked him just like he liked me, why am I resisting.

“I told him I’m just anxious to get home already that’s why, not because I didn’t like him. He just kept acting weird and looking outside to one direction most of the time. Guess he was looking out for someone or something.

“After a while, he got frustrated and moved back to his driver seat and continued the journey. As he just moved, my mom’s call came in coincidentally, and I ensured to put it on speaker, tell her which bus stop we just left and that I would be home in about five minutes. He drove in silence for the rest of the trip until we got to my bus stop and he opened the door and decided to pick passengers.”

Onyinyechi also shared a screenshot showing she had a call history with the BRT bus driver on December 29, 2021.