A female danfo driver in Lagos was left in tears after a traumatic encounter with a passenger who allegedly tried to steal her bus battery and then assaulted her.

The incident, captured in a viral TikTok video, has sparked outrage and sympathy online.

The driver shared her distressing experience, explaining how she picked up the male passenger near Oriental Hotel, under a bridge, with his stated destination being the law school, LASU.

During the journey, she noticed through her side mirror that the man was tampering with her bus battery, attempting to steal it.

When she confronted him, the situation escalated violently. “I stopped to challenge him, and he started attacking me. Look at my face, my clothes—he even tore them. Is this how I deserve to be treated?” the driver recounted, her voice breaking with emotion.

The video shows her visibly shaken, with physical marks of the assault evident on her.

This incident highlights the vulnerability of danfo drivers, particularly women, in a profession often marked by challenges like lawlessness and passenger aggression in Lagos, a bustling city of over 20 million people.

Danfo buses, the yellow-and-black striped minibuses, are a lifeline for transportation in Lagos but are also notorious for the rough conditions their drivers endure.

Reports of battery thefts in the city are not new—neighborhoods like Oshodi have long been hotspots, with thieves targeting parked vehicles and causing significant damage.

The online response to the video was swift, with many netizens expressing support for the driver while others made light of the situation.

Comments ranged from calls for justice to humorous remarks, reflecting the diverse reactions typical of social media.

This incident underscores the broader issues of safety, crime, and gender dynamics in Lagos’s informal transport sector, raising questions about how to better protect drivers in such a chaotic urban environment.