Armed bandits snatched the blue Honda Accord (2010 model) in the photo (popularly known as “Anaconda” or “Evil Spirit” in Nigeria) from a journalist living in Abuja around 2am on November 24, 2012. Its original registration number is MNA 394 AA (NIGER STATE). The car’s original chassis number (visible below the windscreen) is JHMCP2675AC407612 and its engine number, K24Z23807891. [If you own a Honda, please check for either number.]
In spite of all the biometric data capture, new driver’s licence, new vehicle licence and new plate number; in spite of all the police, Customs, EFCC, VIO, FRSC and the GSM companies that have been fleecing Nigerians; and in spite of all the reports and efforts the victim has made so far, the Honda car remains missing. Nobody has come with any breakthrough. Has there really been a government in Nigeria? Nobody works for another person; it’s all about what one could steal or extort from victims of crime or terrorism.
The hoodlums made away with not just the new Honda 2010 model. They sliced the journalist’s head with a machete, shot his wife in the head with a locally made gun, traumatised their children and stole every item of property (laptops, shoes, phones, jewellery, etc) or cash (almost N150, 000) they could find. All his documents including his international passport, driver’s licence, office identity card and national identity card contained in a handbag were stolen.
He fainted after losing much blood. Nine pellets were later removed from his wife’s skull while he now carries a long scar on the head. Nevertheless, he thanks God they survived after spending weeks in the hospital. Many other Nigerians never lived to tell their story.
Never one to give up easily, he has spent a lot of money on these agencies of government in a bid to recover the car and arrest the robbers. A trip to Kano that he sponsored led to the arrest of someone using his BlackBerry phone. The suspect named other accomplices until the police could trace the phone to one of the suspected armed robbers: his name is Muazu Maishayi. His family home in Kano has been identified but no effort has been made to get him arrested in Abuja or through his wife and children in Kano. Another suspect’s name is Ayuba (from north-east Nigeria) whose accomplice was using the line 08170129453 until he threw away the SIM months later. Applications to Glo for identification of the line’s owner at the time (from Nov. 24, 2012, to February 2013) were simply ignored.
It was overheard: Car thieves change vehicles’ numbers somewhere in Kaduna and Kano. Where they are unable to sell a car in whole, they extract the parts and sell in bits.
So, if robbers could easily resell registered cars and snatched cars cannot be traced, why then are Nigerians being robbed in the name of new licences and biometric data capture? And why do we give guns to policemen who would not respond to distress calls? Could the new inspector-general of police in Nigeria, Mr Solomon Arase, kindly answer?
Victim’s contact phone: +234-08054100220
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