Twenty-five SIM cards, two (ATM) cards, different bank tellers and a working mobile cellphone were yesterday recovered from a supposedly mad woman at Oshodi bus stop, Lagos State.
The woman, it was noted, has been living at the spot for the last two years. The items were discovered when the staff of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), who wanted to use the place, tried to evacuate her. An NRC staff , who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the discovery of the SIM cards, ATM cards, and bank tellers came to them as a big surprise. He said: “The woman has been living at the spot for some time now.
Recently, a canteen was built very close to the spot where she is sitting, but some people who use the canteen always complain about the presence of the woman. To our surprise, when we were about to evacuate her from the area, about 25 SIM cards, two ATM cards, different bank tellers and a phone were recovered from her. “We don’t want another incident similar to that of Clifford Orji where human parts were recovered.
We insinuate the woman has someone she is working for. We are going to hand her over to the task force because we don’t want to take chances. “The woman was behaving in her right senses when we moved close to her, but suddenly she started putting up a strange attitude and pretending to be a lunatic. We don’t see her be what she claims to be.”
A trader, by name simply as Rebecca, told our correspondent that she did not believe the woman is a lunatic. “She used to come to my shop to buy detergent to wash her clothes and to take her bath. I was surprised when she started behaving unusually now.
Whenever she comes to buy from me, she always comes with crisp N500 notes. “There was a day I closed my shop late, I saw someone who parked along the road and was discussing with the woman. But I did not hear what they were discussing.
Out of curiosity, I went to her the following day to ask her who the person was. She said those who come to visit her were her immediate family members. The government should clear lunatics from Oshodi and its environs,” she advised.
Another trader, who did not want her name in print, said the woman never begged for alms from passers-by. She said: “We also want the police to beam their searchlight on that angle because she was never solicited for alms from people. They should ask her where she is getting the money she is spending from because we don’t want to lose our children in the market.”
