“She forced herself out, she was crying for help. Because of the dirty act I have done, I was afraid,” the driver said.
Nice Andrew Omininikoron, the driver of Bus Rapid Transit vehicle which was boarded by Ayanwole Oluwabamise, the murdered 22-year-old fashion designer, confessed in a video immediately done after his arrest that he did something “dirty” with the young woman.
In a video recorded by one of the policemen, the driver suggested that he had unlawful carnal knowledge of the deceased.
“She forced herself out, she was crying for help. Because of the dirty act I have done, I was afraid,” the driver said.
The driver had later in a seemly cooked up video released on Monday denied his involvement in Bamise’s murder – a statement which attracted the outrage of many Nigerians on social media.
Bamise went missing after she boarded a BRT vehicle from Chevron Bus Stop, Ajah to Oshodi around 7pm on February 26.
During the journey, the fashion designer was said to have observed that the driver was not picking up other passengers at subsequent bus stops along the route.
Disturbed, she messaged her friend and sent voice notes detailing her predicament. It was the last time her friend and family members heard from her and she was later declared missing.
On Monday, she was found dead on Carter Bridge, according to the Lagos State Police Command.
“The Lagos State Police Command regrets to inform the public that Oluwabamise Ayanwole, the 22-year-old lady who got missing in transit while on board a BRT bus on 26/2/2022 has been found dead,” Adekunle Ajisebutu, Lagos police spokesperson, had said.
“The corpse was found lying on the Carter Bridge by Ogogoro Community, Lagos Island. The corpse has been deposited at the morgue of the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, for an autopsy.”
Speaking, the driver said he was accosted by some gunmen who forced him to stop around Carter Bridge and forcefully took the lady away.
“I picked her from Chevron and I picked the other three guys at Agbegi, when those guys showed me the weapon as I was driving, I couldn’t be myself anymore. Fear came over me, so whatever they (the men with gun sitting beside me) asked me to do, I did,” he had said.
“So when I followed that Carter Bridge, that overhead bridge, they told me to stop there. When they ordered me to stop, they asked me to open the door, when I opened the door, then they started dragging her. I saw her crying for help but I was helpless. When the issue happened, I ran away because I was afraid,” he had noted.