When Victor Gagariga, a Bolt driver in Abuja, decided to wait in his car for a rider he had just dropped off at Gwarimpa on Thursday night, he never thought he would end the night with a bleeding head.

Gagariga told EQ that he had dropped off a client at a wine shop in Gwarimpa and was waiting for the passenger’s return when an argument ensued between him and a woman in the parking lot.

Before he knew what was happening, the woman stepped out of her car, picked up an object and aimed it at him. It hit his head and blood trickled down his face.

The Bolt driver said the incident happened around 8:00 pm. “I took a client to one shop and there wasn’t enough parking space, so I parked slightly beside a car,” he told EQ on Friday.

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He said he had to make do with the little space available so his car would not be parked on the road. While he waited for his client, he suddenly noticed that the car beside him had its reverse lights on.

“Because of the way I was parked, which was to the right side and the driver came through from the left side, I did not really see the left side of the car. I just noticed that the reverse lights had come on,” Gagariga said.

“Immediately I noticed this and that the car had started moving, I started honking to prevent the car from ramming into my car.”

After getting the driver’s attention by honking, he turned his car on and moved forward to allow the other car to pass. Then, he decided to give the driver a piece of his mind because, according to him, their cars would have collided if he had not acted fast.

While detailing the incident, Gagariga said: “I told the woman: ‘Madam, you no dey look back before you begin drive? If somebody was there, you would have crushed them.’ She then asked me what I was doing behind her, and we got into a road rage.

“When she insulted me, I insulted her as well. Only for her to come down from her car, pick up blocks and throw them at me, straight at my head. I got injured. I was bleeding, soaked in a pool of my blood.

“Meanwhile, I had already given way for her. People were there, begging me and trying to calm me down. While we were in the midst of that, she went into her car and zoomed off. There was nothing I could do because she’s a lady and so the case doesn’t turn against me for touching a lady.”

The woman. Photo credit: Victor Gagariga

Although the Bolt driver managed to capture the woman, her car and plate number with his bleeding head on video, he did not start recording on time because he never imagined the verbal argument would turn violent in a matter of seconds.

“Because I was not expecting it, my camera was not on at the time she hit me. I could only video her and her car before she drove off,” Gagariga told EQ.

After the woman who assaulted him zoomed off, Gagariga headed to the Gwarimpa police station to lodge a formal complaint. The police took down his statement and pictures of his injured head before directing him to the hospital for medical attention.

“The IPO that took my case told me to go to the Federal Road Safety Commission Medical Centre, which was just about 300 metres from the police station. They told me to go to a government hospital, not a private one,” he said.

“At the hospital, they gave me some injections and a prescription to get some drugs. Then I headed home.”

Prescription from the FRSC Medical Centre. Photo Source: Victor Gagariga

Gagariga’s prescriptions and bandaged head after leaving the hospital.

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Gagariga went back to the police station on Friday morning to follow up on the matter. He and the police went to the wine shop to retrieve the CCTV footage of the incident.

“The police wanted to get a clip of the assault, but the footage they showed me was not clear because the incident happened at night. But the shop owner said they would check their neighbour’s shop to see if they would get a clearer footage,” Gagariga said.

“But then, a lawyer I showed the video I recorded said it’s enough to nail the woman. I am still going back to the shop this [Friday] evening to see if we can get the footage from the other shop.”

Without counting the cost of the prescription, the Bolt driver spent N8,000 on treatment at the hospital. He said he was also unable to work on Thursday because of the incident.

He hopes the police would be able to find the woman and charge her to court for assault and battery or attempted murder.

“The doctor told me that I was lucky the stone didn’t touch me in certain areas around my head. Else, I would have died instantly,” said the driver.

When EQ called Inspector Rahil, the investigating police officer (IPO), on Friday, she confirmed that the matter was reported at the station and added that investigation was ongoing.

“We went to the scene, and the lady, the shop owner, said she would give us the footage. Her own (CCTV) is not working well, but her neighbour’s own is working. She said she was going to call the neighbour to get the code so she could operate it and give it to us. The complainant said he’s going back there this evening to get it once the woman has it. So, it will get to us,” said the IPO.
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