The Lagos State Police Command has arrested two suspects over the abduction of a 22-year-old fashion designer, Ayanwole Oluwabamise, who went missing after boarding a bus operated by Lagos Bus Services Limited, popularly called BRT.
Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said: “As soon as the report got to the police, investigation into the disappearance of Oluwabamise was immediately initiated.
“To ensure a speedy and diligent investigation, the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, immediately directed the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, to take over the case.
“In the course of an ongoing investigation, two suspects have been arrested and are currently helping in our investigation,” he added.
The Command appealed to anyone with useful information that could help the investigation to come forward.
How she disappeared
Oluwabamise’s whereabouts had been unknown since she boarded a BRT bus at the Chevron area of Lekki en route to Oshodi on February 25.
It was gathered that the Ekiti State indigene, who is over five feet tall, dark in complexion and speaks Yoruba and English languages, boarded the bus at 7 pm.
She became apprehensive when the yet-to-be-identified driver told her to sit at one of the back seats.
According to an insuder (names withheld), “Bamise, who became uncomfortable, sent out voice notes and a short clip to express her concern to one of her friends.
“On her way home, the driver picked up two men and one woman. This made her calm down a bit.
“Then she told us she would alight at Oworonshoki. We called her and noticed something was unusual about the way she was talking.
“We tried to reach out to her again, but her phone was unreachable; then we waited a bit, thinking it was probably (due to a) low battery.
“Only for her parents to contact us on Sunday that Bamise wasn’t home yet and since then we have been at the Oshodi BRT Terminal 3.
“We were told to sit and wait for the driver to come. But the driver did not show up,” the relative added.
Voice notes and a video
It will be recalled that in a series of voice notes exchanges between Bamise and a friend, which were shared on social media, she was heard telling the friend in Yoruba that the bus stopped to pick her, but did not pick other passengers.
Sensing danger, she was said to have made a short video showing the silhouette of a driver and what looked like the vehicle number.
