What was supposed to be a routine journey from Maiduguri to Yola turned into a night of fear, hunger, and helplessness for passengers aboard a Borno Express Transport Company bus that broke down multiple times before leaving them stranded overnight in Malam Sidi, Gombe State.
Among the travellers were University of Maiduguri students, traders, and a 70-year-old man recently discharged from the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) after undergoing surgery.
The ill-fated trip began at 7:10 a.m. on Sunday, October 26, from the Borno Express motor park in Maiduguri. Passengers expected to reach Yola by early afternoon, but the journey quickly turned disastrous.
Just a few kilometres from Potiskum, the Hummer bus developed a fault, forcing passengers to wait for more than two hours by the roadside until a mechanic arrived.
“We thought it was a minor issue,” said Mr. Dahiru Umar, one of the passengers who later filed a formal complaint. “But after reaching Potiskum, the same fault happened again, and we waited another two hours without any explanation.”
The vehicle resumed the trip by afternoon but broke down once more near Bajoga, in Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State. As night approached, the driver repeatedly assured the frustrated passengers that help was coming.
By 6 p.m., the bus completely broke down at Malam Sidi. Stranded in the dark, the passengers faced hunger and cold with no assistance in sight.
“We were stuck in the bush with no food or shelter,” Umar recalled. “The driver kept saying another bus was coming, but none arrived for hours.”
It wasn’t until 11 p.m. that another Hummer bus showed up. The stranded driver allegedly negotiated with the new driver to convey passengers to Yola for ₦100,000, to be paid via POS transfer. But before the transaction was completed, the Borno Express driver reportedly disappeared.
“He vanished into the night and stopped answering our calls,” Umar said. “We were stranded again, with our luggage locked inside another bus that refused to move without payment.”
Left with no option, the replacement driver agreed to take only the elderly and the ailing passenger to Gombe, leaving the rest — mostly students — behind.
Around midnight, the stranded passengers flagged down a passing trailer, whose driver agreed to take them to Gombe. They were dropped near a police checkpoint, where officers sympathised with them and helped them find another vehicle.
“At about 4 a.m., a Sharon bus heading to Yola stopped,” Umar said. “The driver, moved by our situation, agreed to take us for ₦5,000 each instead of the usual ₦7,000.”
After nearly 26 hours of hardship, the passengers finally reached Yola at 9:28 a.m. on Monday, tired, hungry, and angry.
In his petition, Umar demanded disciplinary action against the driver, a refund of part of the fare, and a public apology from Borno Express. He accused the driver of gross negligence that endangered passengers’ lives.
“Considering the insecurity along the Maiduguri–Yola highway, his actions were reckless and inhumane,” he said. “We survived only by God’s mercy. No one should ever go through what we experienced that night.”
