A lawyer based in Abuja, Kenechukwu Maduka, has narrated how he and his wife almost lost their lives on Tuesday after being forced to board a rickety Toyota Sienna vehicle from Awka, Anambra State, to the Federal Capital Territory by God is Good Motors, a popular transport company in Nigeria.
According to the legal practitioner, he booked two seats on a Toyota Hiace bus and paid N23,000 for himself and his wife for the journey but was shocked to realise that the transport company did not have the bus displayed on their online platform on the ground when they got to their terminal in Awka, the capital of Anambra.
As a result, he and his wife were told to board a rickety Siena vehicle for the trip, which he promptly rejected.
But after much pleading and persuasion from other passengers in the vehicle, he and his wife decided to board the car to get to their destination. However, shortly after leaving God is Good Motors terminal in the Anambra State capital, the vehicle developed a mechanical fault — which was only an introduction as worse things later came.
By the time the fault was rectified and they continued with the journey, things took a completely terrible turn.
“I paid N23,000 for transport fare for me and my wife from Awka to Abuja. On getting to God is Good Motors terminal in Awka, I realised that the bus we booked for was not on the ground. The company scammed me and my wife by putting us in a rickety Siena bus which we resisted.
“We insisted on a refund because we did not book seats on the Siena bus. It took the intervention of people around and passengers for us to accept to board the Siena bus.
“Less than five minutes after we left their Awka park, the Siena developed a fault. We went back to their office, they did some repairs and we left again. But on reaching the boundary between Anambra and Enugu, the vehicle developed fault again.
“Instead of the driver to call the office, he told us that we needed to negotiate. After a while, the driver told us that he will be driving us to their park in Enugu.
“That was how we left our destination from Awka to Abuja for Enugu at about 4:30 pm.
“At their Enugu park, they called another mechanic for repairs which took about one hour. As at 7:30 pm on Tuesday we were still stranded in Enugu despite leaving Awka by 7:30 am.
“We were eventually forced to pass the night in Lokoja, Kogi State, after the driver claimed he was tired.
“We arrived in Abuja on Wednesday morning after much suffering and risk.
“God is Good Motors endangered our lives by forcing us to travel in a rickety vehicle despite collecting high transport fares from us.
“We could have been killed by armed robbers or kidnapped by gunmen on that journey because of the carelessness of the management.
“We will not keep quiet about his massive violation of our rights as customers. Appropriate authorities must sanction the transport company for endangering the lives of passengers for their own gains,” the lawyer said.
An enquiry sent to the official email of the transport company over the issue was yet to be responded to as of the time of this report.
