Passengers Stranded After Borno Express Bus Breaks Down Multiple Times on Maiduguri–Yola Route

Passengers aboard a Borno Express Transport Company bus that broke down several times before finally leaving them stranded overnight in Malam Sidi, Gombe State.

Among those on board from Maiduguri to Yola were students from the University of Maiduguri, traders, and a frail elderly man said to be over 70 years old, who had just been discharged from the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital after a surgical operation.

The journey started at exactly 7:10 a.m. on Sunday, October 26, from the Borno Express motor park in Maiduguri. Spirits were high, and many hoped to arrive in Yola by early afternoon. But the day soon spiraled into a series of mechanical failures and mounting frustration.

Barely a few kilometres to Potiskum, the Hummer bus developed its first fault. Passengers waited by the roadside for more than two hours before a mechanic arrived. “We thought it was a minor problem,” recalled Mr. Dahiru Umar, one of the passengers who later filed a formal complaint. “But after getting to Potiskum, the same issue happened again. We waited another hour or two without any proper explanation.”

By afternoon, the vehicle managed to continue, only to break down again near Bajoga in Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State. This time, there was no quick fix. The driver made repeated phone calls, assuring passengers that help was on the way.

By 6 p.m., the bus came to a final stop at Malam Sidi, unable to move any further. Fatigue, hunger, and fear began to set in as night fell. “We were stranded in the bush with no food and nowhere to sleep,” Umar said. “All the driver kept saying was that help was coming.”

Around 11 p.m., another Hummer bus arrived. The Borno Express driver allegedly negotiated with the new driver to take passengers to Yola for ₦100,000, promising to complete payment via a POS transfer. However, before the deal was concluded, the Borno Express driver disappeared along with the passengers’ luggage.

“He vanished into the darkness and stopped answering calls,” Umar said bitterly. “We were left stranded again, with our belongings in another bus that wouldn’t move without payment.”

With no other choice, the replacement driver agreed to take only the elderly and the sick to Gombe. The rest mostly students were left behind.

At midnight, the stranded group managed to flag down a passing trailer whose driver agreed to give them a lift to Gombe. There, sympathetic police officers at a checkpoint tried to help them find transport to Yola.

It wasn’t until 4 a.m. that a Sharon bus heading to Yola stopped for them. The driver, moved by their plight, agreed to charge ₦5,000 per person instead of the usual ₦7,000.

After nearly 26 grueling hours, the exhausted passengers finally reached Yola around 9:28 a.m. on Monday hungry, angry, and traumatized.

In his complaint, Umar demanded that Borno Express take disciplinary action against the driver, refund part of the fare, and issue a public apology. He described the driver’s behavior as negligent and reckless, especially given the security risks along the Maiduguri–Yola highway.

“We could have been attacked or worse,” he said. “We survived only by God’s grace. No one should ever go through what we went through that night.”

The Borno Express Transport Company, a state-owned enterprise, has long been a preferred means of inter-state travel across Nigeria’s North-East. However, recent reports of poor vehicle maintenance and alleged driver misconduct have raised growing concerns among passengers.

Efforts to obtain an official response from the company’s management were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.

Source: Zagazola Makama