CoronavirusNewsNigeriaCOVID-19: The Mystifying Robbery Attacks and the People’s Vigilante Groups in Ogun and Lagos

By Bada Yusuf Amoo

At this juncture, it is a universal knowledge that the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has swiftly pervaded and remarkably changed the world. As the pandemic remains a foremost health issue, which has claimed the lives of about one hundred and eighty thousand persons globally and counting, the damages are profound and unprecedented.

In Africa, the challenges are more severe, considering that many African countries are still battling poverty and insecurity. In Nigeria, all regions of the country are experiencing one insecurity challenge or the other. They range from Boko-Haram carnage, Herdsmen menace, banditries, and kidnappings.

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, though insecurity seemed to have slowed at first, I did not believe it will last. As expected, the numbers rose significantly soon after, and the common man is no longer at ease. Aside from Boko Haram and the herdsmen/farmer clashes, the level of insecurity has taken another dimension as the Nigerian government and people are fighting the COVID-19.

Members of the vigilante group Secure in Lagos

This new dimension started with the fear of a rise in crime and unrest as the presidency gave the order of lockdown in Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja. In Lagos, for instance, millions of people living in poverty were cut off from their sources of daily income and were subjected to face hunger. The fear of imminent unrest across the state grew by the day. The possibility of these people taking the law into their hands is seemingly looking like a possible outcome.

This fear turned reality shortly after the lockdown; we have seen the trend of “Lagos Unrest” and “Ogun Unrest” on our social media. I reside in one of the affected areas where violent gangs operate, and incidents of crime are a daily occurrence.  Personally, it has nor been easy.  It has not been an easy task staying up at night at times with a cutlass in hand, and burning tires to prepare for any eventuality armed robbery attack from the famous criminal gangs called “one million boys” or “Awawa Boys.”

This self-defense became necessary when two shops were burglarised two streets from my street. Also, there are rampant rumors that robbery has been taken place in some nearby communities. Some of the stories note that the theft that took place in the Adura area of Alagbado, Lagos state occurred in broad daylight. One victim of a robbery attack happened in Ifo area of Ogun state was not only robbed but was severely injured.

File photo: Six persons, including a herbalist, arrested by the Ogun State Police Command for their alleged involvement in a robbery incident that occurred in Abeokuta, January 21.

Wasiu Kolawole narrated his experience to Aljazeera: “I woke up around 1 a.m, and I heard some neighbors screaming and calling for people to come out and defend them. It was like a movie scene. I made my way to the entrance of the house and found out that other neighbors were all out with weapons [such as machetes and clubs]”

He continued that “I quickly ran back into the house to fetch my machete and joined other residents to form a barricade to prevent the hoodlums from invading our street. We stayed awake until 7 a.m before dispersing to our homes.”

They walk around in large numbers –like 30 upward, harassing passers-by, sometimes with apparent weapons. The best approach does not attempt to pass within or beside them. If you come across them on the road, it’s either you enter a nearby shop, or you cross to the other side of the street. You can be attacked or may not, depending on the type of luck that is following you.

I do not know much about the “one million boys,” but I know “Awawa boys” exist. They are a group of young boys between the age of 20 to 30 who started in Aluminium village in Surulere, Dopemu-Agege Lagos. They walk around in large numbers –like 30 upward, harassing passers-by, sometimes with apparent weapons. The best approach does not attempt to pass within or beside them. If you come across them on the road, it’s either you enter a nearby shop, or you cross to the other side of the street. You can be attacked or may not, depending on the type of luck that is following you.

It’s had to know what to expect most of the time. Some members of the “Awawa Boys” move around in large numbers while walking the streets, invariably precipitating incidents of a robbery at the spate of the moment. Once they enter a community, they can easily divide themselves into smaller groups of between five and ten to carry out any activities they’ve planned. Some residents of the Agege area described this tactic as what happened in Orile/Pen Cinema in Agege incident last week.

The Lagos state police command, on the other hand, has denied the reports that there have been rampant robbery attacks in the borderlines of Lagos and Ogun states. The police argue that their intelligence contradicts the widespread reports of community robberies. They assert that the stories do not collaborate with the ground reports of what’s happening in the borderline communities.

According to the police, the gangsters achieved their intention by creating panic. To protect their communities, residents set up stopgap checkpoints with burning tires in the border communities between Lagos and Ogun states, often aided by vigilante groups.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested and paraded 150 suspected gangsters in the Ado-Odo/Ota and Ifo Local Government in Ogun State. These two local governments in Ogun state shared borders with Alimosho and Ifako-Ijaye Local Governments in Lagos. The police still hold that the arrested suspects are members of different court groups fighting over area supremacy and that no single robbery has taken place in the areas.

The residents, on the other hand, have continued to claim that robbery activities have been ongoing in their communities. Thus, the practice of burning tires in the area communities has continued in Ifo and Ado-Odo Ota Local Governments in Ogun State and Ifako-Ijaye, Agege, and Alimosho in Lagos state. The burning of tires is commonplace because people distrust the police to protect them and their properties. What more, there has been little or no patrols in many communities in these local governments.

In another report, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says security forces have killed 18 persons since the lockdown directives took effect. Meanwhile, the coronavirus itself has killed 13 persons in Nigeria. The incessant killings of innocent persons and the lack of quick response from the police continue to grow and exacerbate a lack of trust by Nigerians in the police. Invariably vigilante groups seem a safe option taken by an increasing number of communities in the absence of police presence.

A plan to keep the citizens safe is needed. The police and other security agencies need to increase security surveillance across the two states and some other areas in the country where there have been reports of robbery attacks. The police authority needs to caution its officers from killing innocent Nigerians and be willing to even bring for legal prosecution any officer found in the act of extrajudicial killing of citizens.

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