The Deputy Government Spokesperson of the Barrow Administration, Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu, was allegedly robbed over the weekend on his way home, with the robbers making away with his dual sim Samsung Galaxy phone containing Africell and Qcell lines with a residual value of D6000, photochromic eyeglasses valued at D14,000, and D1,200 cash in his pockets.
Speaking to the media, Sankanu said the robbery “happened in the early hours of Sunday, 2nd July 2023 on my way home from a small function organized by my Law classmates of the UTG Faculty of Law.
“My colleagues accompanied me up to the Brusubi Roundabout/Flyover. I did not want to burden them further, so I alighted from their private vehicle with the intention of taking a taxi to my residence in Wullinkama.
I am a regular user of public transport like everyone, and I have to struggle when commuting gets tough. After a while, I could not get a taxi and decided to walk home which normally takes some 20 minutes.”
He said the gang that surprised him halfway around Brusubi Phase One asked him for time and as he was checking his phone for the requested time, they started cussing him out.
“They started insulting my mother, President Barrow and they aggressively grabbed my phone away. One of them took my blazer off my body and searched the pockets as the other was trying to find other valuables in my trousers.
“It was a surreal scene of a ram surrounded by hungry wolves. It was dark and I could not recognize their faces but I could tell they were armed with sharp objects pointed at me and were smelling of illicit drugs.
“After a while, they threw my blazer back to me and disappeared with my phone, eyeglasses and cash. I was petrified. If I, as a top-ranking official of the Government and an academic, can be so vulnerable to such naked violence, I empathize with the common man,” Sankanu said.
Mr. Sankanu further said: “I am grateful for my life. The phone and other stuff grabbed from me at a life-threatening point are replaceable. I cannot recognize the two front guys who assaulted me or their accomplices in the background.
“I could however sense that they smelt of alcohol and hard drugs, had sharp objects on them and were dirty like septic tanks. I was more focused on getting away from that macabre scene unhurt.
“Those are unhygienic and unpleasant characters that no reasonable person would voluntarily spend even a minute associating with. I am not used to going out late at night, so I was unprepared and did not know how to handle nocturnal characters disguised as time enquirers,” he stated.
Sankanu has since lodged a complaint at the Brusubi Police Station which is leading the investigations into the robbery.
