Lagos bus driver blinds lover with punch

A 32-year-old woman, Ogechi Isaiah, has lost her right eye after being allegedly assaulted by her lover, Mohammed Yinusa, at Southern Estate, Lakuwe in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State.

In a video seen by Saturday PUNCH on Friday, Isaiah said the incident occurred on January 4, 2025.

She sought the intervention of the police and human rights activists on the matter on May 3.

The victim, who resides in the same compound as Yinusa who is a bus driver, said the two had been in a relationship and that she frequently helped him with domestic chores.

Isaiah explained that on the day of the incident, she had gone to return some freshly washed clothes she had helped Yinusa pack from the line.

On asking him to cross-check the clothes, Isaiah said Yinusa asked her to drop them in the room.

 She added that her second attempt to ask was met with a punch to the face by Yinusa.

I live in the same compound as Mr Yinusa, and we started dating.  I was cooking, washing and cleaning his house for him. On January 4, 2025, around 10:30 pm. I brought his clothes that he washed, and I helped him pack them from the rope. I asked him to cross-check if the clothes were complete.”

“He asked me to drop the clothes in his room. So, I repeated that he should cross-check, and before I knew anything, he gave me a heavy blow on my right eye, and immediately my eyes started bleeding and dripping water,” she narrated.

Isaiah said it took the intervention of neighbours who prevailed on him to take her to the hospital for treatment.

She added that while Yinusa promised to foot her medical bills, he had yet to do so.

Meanwhile, Yinusa, in a separate video denied punching her in the eye, adding that he made efforts to treat her after the incident.

He said, “After she took the clothes in, she refused to allow me into the room. She held on the handle of the door from inside and I was also trying to open it from outside. Then we both start to drag the door, until I suddenly left it. Immediately she opened it, she rushed towards me and held my trousers. It was my neighbour who now told me that blood was dropping from her eyes. That was when I realised that the handle of the door removed and hit her in the eye. I took her in my car to the hospital.”

A human rights advocate and founder, Harmony Advocacy Network, Harmony Tachie, whom Isaiah reported to told our correspondent on Friday that she took both the victim and the suspect to the police station after she was alerted about the incident.

Tachie, who also represents Advocates for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network, alleged that an attempt to get justice for Isaiah was frustrated at the Elemoro Police Station.

She said, “Both of them were befriending themselves. But when the incident happened, Ogechi reported to us and by the time we wanted to take it up, she asked us to hold on and that there was an intervention. She later came to us on Saturday, May 3, lamenting that Yinusa had failed to take of her medical expenses.

“We went to the police station the same day, and the man was detained. The next Monday, when they were supposed to go to court, my secretary went there because we had not heard from the victim. On getting there, she waited, and she later left when she did not see her. We heard the victim later went to the station in the evening and told the police that she did not have money to start a case.”

According to Tachie, the police had earlier requested Isaiah to provide money to obtain a charge sheet and also for a bus that would take her and the suspect to court in Epe.

“The police then gave her a paper to withdraw the case that evening. They said the DPO also gave her a sheet of paper which he wrote that Yinusa should take her to the hospital for treatment. But since the police had released Yinusa, he refused to go home, and no one knew his whereabouts since then. His phone number is also not going through,” she added.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, did not pick up calls made to his telephone line.

A text message sent to him had yet to be replied to as of the time this report was filed.