A Ghanaian woman named Miss Freda Arnong sadly lost her life after being attacked and thrown out of a moving vehicle by a group of one-chance robbers in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.
Freda had lived and worked in Abuja for nearly 20 years. Unfortunately, around 3 a.m. on Sunday, July 7, 2025, she died from the injuries she suffered during the robbery.
Her brother, Arnong Arnong, shared that on the evening of July 1, Freda had just left a church house fellowship near the CBN Institute in Maitama. She boarded a taxi to return to her home on Pope John Paul Street, near the Transcorp Hilton area. Sadly, she didn’t know that the taxi was being operated by criminals.
According to her brother, Freda managed to tell him that not long after she entered the car, the men blindfolded her and started beating her. They forced her to unlock her phone and bank app so they could steal from her.
He also said that Freda wasn’t very familiar with technology and had lost her ATM card weeks earlier, which she hadn’t replaced.
Desperate to get money, the robbers became even more violent. Even though Freda offered to contact her boss to send them the ₦10 million they were demanding, they refused and instead threatened to kill her and sell her body parts.
Eventually, at around 11 p.m., they threw her out of the moving car near Moshood Abiola Stadium, leaving her badly injured.
She tried to wave down cars for help but was ignored for a while. Eventually, a vigilante group found her and took her to the National Hospital in Abuja for treatment.
Doctors found that Freda had very serious injuries, including broken ribs, damage to her lungs and kidneys, bleeding inside her body, and injuries to her eyes and heart. Sadly, she passed away a few days later.
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) expressed sadness over Freda’s death. The group said these types of robbers have been operating for years because those in power have not taken the problem seriously.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, called for justice. He said Freda was known to the group for 18 years and had always supported their human rights work.
He added that Freda’s horrible experience shows the urgent need for the government to take action. He suggested setting up more police checkpoints in Abuja and restarting the city’s CCTV camera project to improve security.
Onwubiko also said the government should focus more on keeping people safe with real-time monitoring and fast-response teams instead of building roads and bridges.
He questioned why innocent people like Freda should die just for living in a city with poor safety systems. He asked how long people would continue to lose their lives to these criminals who disguise themselves as taxi drivers.
He said it’s time for Nigeria to create a system where passengers can confirm the identity of commercial drivers and vehicles before getting in. This would help prevent such tragedies.
Finally, he demanded justice for Freda. He said the people who attacked her must be caught and punished. He also pointed out that many other families have lost loved ones in similar ways and have received no help from the system. He urged everyone to speak up and push for real change so that no more lives are lost this way.
