A security agent with one of Nigeria’s security forces, Ibrahim Ishaku, has recalled a most shocking ordeal he experienced while on duty in Onitsha, a city in Anambra State.
Ishaku was reacting to a post made by a writer and social crusader, Bala Baba Dihis on his facebook page about Onitsha, on Thursday.
In the post, Dihis argued that Onitsha is the most dangerous city in Nigeria.
Dihis was apparently worried about his claim that there is broad daylight robbery and extortion taking place in the city and wondered what kind of people are there.
He wrote, “Onitsha is the most dangerous city in Nigeria. The broad day light robbery and extortion going on in that place. What kind of pple are these??”
Taking to the comment section of the post, Ishaku, who did not disclose the particular security forces he works with, said Onitsha is definitely one of the worst cities in the world, not only in Nigeria.
He went on to recall an experience he had in 2019 with two hoodlums, who wanted to snatch his service pistol hanging on his waist while he was fully dressed in uniform.
According to him, they were twenty (20) in number moving in a group, but only five of them were in uniform.
He disclosed that they set out for semi-covert duty, and all of a sudden the two hoodlums showed up and wanted to snatch his pistol, unaware that the other men behind him were his colleagues.
He disclosed that, that was not his first experience and went further to narrate it.
He wrote, “Onitsha is definitely one of the worst cities in the world, not only in Nigeria. I was there in 2019 fully dressed in uniform with service pistol hanging on my waist. We were 20 in number moving in a group but only 5 of us were in uniform. We set out for a semi-covert duty and two irredeemable edeohts wanted to snatch my pistol in broad daylight, not knowing many behind me in mufti were my colleagues. That was how they were stopped, napped and taken away for baptism.
“That wasn’t my first experience. The first was a guy who went to a restaurant to eat and after that arrogantly refused to pay. When questioned, he brought out an ugly locally made pistol and threatened everyone. We were all armed and decided to “put him to sleep”. It was even more shocking to know that he had two guys hanging around as his bodyguards. Onitsha is no doubt a deadly place and the most deadly in Nigeria. Anyone who attempts to defend this is either ignorant of the situation there, never been there or just don’t want to be honest.”
Onitsha, according to wikivoyage, is a city of 1.5 million people (2021). The site also said Onitsha can claim two distinctions. First, it is said to have the largest market in Africa in terms of volume of goods and geographical size. And, secondly, in a more sordid sense, it was ranked number one most polluted city in the world by WHO in 2016.
