Mug: The events of the evening of Thursday 16th March 1992

This is a statement that I made to the company Overseas Technical Services while working in Warri, Delta State Nigeria. It is a report of an incident which was a day to day occurance in that time and place.
At about 2030 hrs I was being driven by Meshack in the OTS car, number 030, from Oghenovo Estate, PTI Road, Warri.
It was dark and there were no lights on in the street. We turned left from the exit gate and had travelled about 200 m when I saw a torch and a group of people blocking the road in front of us.

There were vehicles blocking the road and we were forced to stop.
I then saw that at least five of the men were armed with guns, which they were pointing at our car. The guns were crude looking weapons and the men were not in uniform.
My main attention was then on the man closest to me, who was pointing a sawn-off shot gun at my head from about 1 m away.
His face was wild and showed great excitement.

The robbers clustered around the car and the doors were opened.

I got out of the car and told Meshack to give them anything they wanted. Glancing in his direction, I could see at least two guns trained on him.
At least 3 sawn-off shot-guns were pointed at me, within touching distance, two at my head and one at my lower trunk. A fourth gun was held in my direction by a robber about 3m away to my right.

There seemed to be a lot of robbers and they were all very agitated. I remember thinking how interresting it was, and how incompetant they were.

They were all shouting silly things like "We are robbers, give us money" and "We have guns and we will shoot you" .
It all seemed pathetic, they were totally hyped up and in panic.
I said "I will give you my money" and got my wallet out. One of them snatched it.
They were all babbling and shouting about in a most unprofessional way that completely destroyed any respect that I might have had for them.

I could not understand what they wanted me to do. so I started to get back in the car.
A gun went off about 3m from me and I saw a sheet of flame and sparks about 1/2m long accompanied by a very disappointing bang.
I remember thinking "This is real then." and being aware of three guns poked at me.
Then the raving man in front of me, hit me on the head with the muzzle of his gun and momentarily my vision failed. I heard the impact and saw stars.
My knees must have weakened for a second or so, then I stood up to my full height and put my hand to my head.
I felt the blood pouring through my fingers and said "What did you do that for, you prat. You can have what you want"
He started shouting even louder and I still could not understand what he wanted.
For a split second I thought he was going to shoot me, the gun was about six inches from my nose and even he could not have missed at that range, but the moment passed and the three clustered around me, started sticking their hands in my pockets.

The man who hit me, pulled out my bunch of keys and stuck them in his pocket
I said "What do you want them for..." I nearly said "you prick" but remembered the gun in his hand.
He then saw my gold puzzle ring and pulled it off my finger, he must have taken my watch at the same time, but there as so much blood running down my arm, I did not notice.

By this time they all seemed to have lost interrest in shooting me, and started to scramble into the OTS car.

There must have been at least six and probably seven of them and they had difficulty in squeezing in.
I could not see the driver, but the engine failed to start for a second or two, then there was a grinding of geers, a little judder in reverse, and it stalled.
It started again and at last gained enough speed to do a U turn with tires screeching.

The gathering crowd seemed impressed. I then realised that I must look quite a sight, as I could feel my blood running down my arms .
I wiped my eyes clear of what I thought was sweat, but found that too was blood.

A small, trembling crowd were looking at me and then Meshack came into view, holding his mouth.
I asked him if he was hurt and he showed me a loose tooth.

A police car came into sight from the direction in which the robbers had driven. I got to the centre of the road and flagged the car down.
It slowed to a walking pace and I could see at least two armed policemen as well as the driver. They looked in my direction but carried on slowly.

The crowd started telling them that I had been injured by armed robbers and that they could catch them.
The police seemed disinterrested so I went forward again and tapped on the window of the police car with my blood drenched hand. I smeered blood over the window.
They looked at me again but continued driving slowly forward and turning left to come to a stop facing the gates of a secure estate.
The gates were opened and the police car went through.
I started to follow but the gates were being closed and I did not know what sort of situation I would be walking into, so I turned back.
Meshack asked what we should do and the crowd were saying "sorry sorry sorry".

They were obviously very frightened so I started to walk back to OTS. A motor cycle-taxi offered me a lift, but I thought that it would be too dangerous.

As I approached Oghenovo Estate I heard shouting and saw a white car, which could have been ours, parked beside the wall, facing the road with a very loud argument going on.
I heard phrases..."where is the money." "He gave you the money" and as I drew level with them "You took the money from the man"...
I avoided looking in their direction and tried not to hurry. I then heard one say "That man there... the eyibo." By this time I was level with the Ogenovo gates and I looked back for Meshack.

The gate was ajar and I hurried Meshack through and told the gateman to close the gates.

I went to the office to report the incident to the deputy Contract Manager who was in conversation with Mr. Obi (of Shell) at the time. They were anxious for the other OTS workers not to see me as they did not want any of them to quit.

There were the continuing sounds of gunfire during that night, but that was normal for Warri at that time and, as usual, there were dead on the streets in the morning.

I had been robbed of 300 Naira, a Casio watch valued about 5 pounds stirling and a broken gold puzzle ring worth about 150 pounds stirling. I telephoned my son the following day, to cancel my credit cards, although I doubt that the thieves have the sense to use them.

I do not think that I could remain so objective about the situation if it ever happens again, as recalling the retails has forced me to consider the danger that I was not really concious of at the time.
I now recall the barrel of the sawn off shot-gun with a fear that was not manifest at the time of the incident.

About two weeks later I suffered port traumaitic shock and was placed in intensive care for some days, in my own room where a mobile cardiograph etc was rigged up, and the company nurse was in attendance with a doctor making frequent visits.

Months later my documents from the wallet were returned to me from Switzerland through someone who had noticed them in a Nigerian Police Station in another part of the country.