Abuja residents woke up on Wednesday to the chilling news of a family of three, husband, wife, and child, who lost their lives under the Mabushi bridge after being chased by touts, popularly known as ‘Agberos’.
The tragedy has laid bare a growing menace that many fear could turn the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) into another Lagos, where Agberos dominate the transport system through violence and extortion.
According to Leadership, the victims were returning home in their car with a newly purchased refrigerator when three touts pounced on them.
Eyewitnesses said the Agberos attempted to wrest control of the steering wheel while demanding money. In the struggle, the driver lost control, crashing into a bridge pillar before the vehicle plunged into a drainage.
All three occupants of the Toyota Highlander died instantly, and a taxi was also struck during the chaos.
Witnesses say the tragedy was preventable. “We’ve been warning about these boys,” fumed a trader at Mabushi. “Now a whole family is gone. Tomorrow, it could be anyone.”
It was gathered that enraged onlookers lynched one of the attackers on the spot while police from the Mabushi Division reportedly rescued two others, one critically injured and the other taken alive to the National Hospital.
“This is what we’ve been warning about,” said a resident who witnessed the scene. “Abuja is no longer safe. A whole family wiped out because of touts.”
For weeks, our investigation followed the trail of tout activities across major junctions and bus stops in Abuja, from Lugbe to Berger, Wuse to Zuba.
At each point, the pattern was the same: young men armed with sticks, clubs or sheer bravado descend on motorists, demanding illegal levies before releasing seized car keys or allowing drivers to pick up passengers.
“They charge us as if they own the roads,” said a commercial driver at the Berger junction, lowering his voice in caution. “If you refuse, they damage your car or block you. Sometimes, they beat people up.”
Investigations across the major bus stops and junctions in the FCT reveal that Abuja’s transport system is increasingly under siege by touts, mirroring the entrenched Lagos agbero model.
“Drivers report daily harassment, illegal levies, and physical intimidation, but nothing is done. Commuters describe gangs lying in wait, blocking vehicles and seizing keys until cash is handed over.
“This is how Lagos lost control of its transport corridors. If Abuja does not act decisively, the same fate awaits,” said a former FCT transport official, who asked not to be named.
Despite mounting complaints from residents and commuters, official response has been muted, and the police insist that no formal cases have been filed.
FCT Police PRO, Josephine Adeh, told this reporter that “no official reports have been made,” raising concerns that victims are either too fearful to come forward or see little hope in enforcement.
The result is a climate of silence, where agberos act with impunity while residents endure daily extortion and fatalities.
However, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) is yet to issue an official statement on the tragic Mabushi accident. Also, the identities of the deceased are yet to be released.
The Mabushi tragedy has ignited fury across Abuja. On social media, residents shared their own encounters with touts and called for urgent intervention.
“Are you saying I should have a car and still hire a commercial vehicle to carry my things home?” one resident fumed. “This is daylight robbery.”
Abuja was designed to embody order and modernity, but the growing agbero culture threatens that vision.
Observers say the growing impunity of agberos raises unsettling questions about governance in the FCT.
The Mabushi tragedy is not just an isolated accident; it is a chilling warning that the capital could lose control of its streets to the rule of touts.
With one family’s lives already lost, residents say the stakes could not be higher.
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Unless the FCT administration and security agencies move swiftly to dismantle tout networks, Abuja may soon mirror Lagos, where transport corridors are not controlled by law and order but one beholden to the whims of street-level thuggery.