By Cosmas Omegoh
Imagine boarding a vehicle while going home in the evening after long-tiring hours at work. Or you are on bus, sight at reaching the office in good time to continue where you left things off a day before. Then suddenly someone from the pit of hell wipes out a short gun. Pointing the lethal weapon straight at your face, he yells in a guttural voice “cooperate with us now or we waste you,” while demanding cash and other valuables on you. To show that they mean business, his gang members unleash a barrage of beatings on you; instantly, one goes on to inflict two or more machete cuts on your forehead. Blood begins to cascade down your face, blinding your vision.
Also imagine you are held hostage, after being forcefully driven to a location completely different from where you had earlier planned to be. Then after long harrowing hours that appear like eternity, your abductors, having ceased your cell phone, now begin to call your distraught relatives, demanding ransom and you are asked to speak to them about your ordeal. Or you are a woman, your abductors are mindlessly ripping through your inner wear, intent to rape you. They want none of your cries or pleas for mercy. Or you are face-to-face with death. Money ritualists circle you, unbelievably telling you the part of the body they want, and you wish the moment is a nightmare from which you would soon wake up from.
The scenarios so presented are some of the unfortunate encounters a security expert, Richard Amuwa has pronounced as “worrisome source of concern.”
Many residents of Lagos keep praying to avoid any of such. Yet, they are still happening.
Over the past days it would be recalled, some hoodlums have continued to unleash terror and tension on some Lagos residents. Deploying vehicles, they pick up unsuspecting passengers who they hand a round deal. They abduct, rob, rape, and in some instances, kill their victims, leaving bewildered city residents aghast. Sometimes, no trace of the victim(s) is found. Their victims are no longer there to say how things went down. Then after long days of fruitless search, the case reaches a dead end. And the beat goes on.
Now, some residents fear that a rise in vehicle-aided crimes in the city is gradually snowballing into a much bigger problem. Their concerns are genuine.
Hell in hoodlums’ hands
Long before now, there have been robbers who deploy commercial buses to rob unsuspecting passengers. That is common knowledge. They are known as “Catch in the air,” or “One chance.” The hoodlums operate mostly in the early hours of the day, or late in the evening when people are labouring to get home to rest.
According to Sunday Sun investigation, shortly after a passenger(s) boards a Voxwagen Combi bus, the one Lagos residents prefer to call Danfo, a robber points a gun at him. The victim is subsequently beaten up, robbed and eventually pushed out of the moving vehicle, abandoned to his fate.
Towards the end of 2021, for instance, Mary (other names withheld) was robbed on Ikorodu Road in a similar circumstance while she was going to work.
Mary lives in Ojota area, but works on the Island.
Here is her story: “I boarded the bus at Ojota terminal about 5:45a.m on my way to work on that fateful day in late November. I usually leave home about that time to beat the traffic so as to get to the office early.
“The moment I rushed into the bus, a young man also hopped in. It was just two of use that boarded before the driver zoomed off. There were three other guys already seated, but I never suspected they were gang members.
“Between Anthony and Pamgroove bus stops, I noticed that the driver had slowed down. The guy sitting diagonally opposite me just stretched his hand and sprayed a pepperish substance in my face. It was utterly irritating, forcing me to cringed. Then the one beside me followed up with a series of nerve-shattering slaps. I passed out. In that melee, they collected my handbag, containing my phones, some cash and my mini make-up kit and then pushed me off the bus. I landed on my side and injured my ribs. It was sympathisers that helped me to the hospital,” she narrated.
In the meantime, Lagos residents are yet to come over the tragic death of 22-year-old Bamise Ayanwale who boarded a BRT bus on the night of February 24, from Chevron Bus stop in Lekki while returning to Oshodi.
Bamise had alerted her friend that she faced grave danger. After that, her phone line went dead; she got missing. A week after, her body was found dumped on the street.
Although some persons are telling what they know about her death, the outrage that has generated is yet to die down.
There was another shortly after that, looking like kidnapping for ransom incident. A lucky mother had shared her grieve and joy after her son identified as Chukwuma was found after payment of ransom.
The lad allegedly disappeared after boarding a commercial bus on Friday morning, March 11, in Egbeda area, and was later found after payment of ransom.
Sharing her ordeal on twitter, his mother wrote: ‘’He has been found; they threw him out of a moving car two bus stops from home; yes we paid the ransom. I have all the details of the account number we paid the ransom.
“He was beaten up and drugged. The police are working on the case.’’
Much earlier, there have been reports of missing persons in Lagos without any trace. There have also been testimonies given by people who were abducted by while riding in commercial vehicles; some of them taken to some ungoverned spaces in Ikorodu, Epe, Badagry or even to Ogun, Oyo and Osun states. But they managed to escape their captors by divine providence.
In November last year, for instance, Sunday Sun reported the case of a young man, Stanley, who was hypnotised, and abducted at Isheri-Osun bus stop along Jakande Gate-Ijegun Expressway also in Lagos. He remained in captivity for three days, and was released only after his abductors found and withdrew the sum of N800,000 in his bank account.
Stories of people being abducted and killed for money rituals easily rend the heart.
When kidnapping which is gradually claiming the place of an act first swept into Lagos like a wave, a certain Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans, now convicted for his crime was believed to be at the centre of it all.
He was targeting the rich, from whom he collected huge sums of money – some in foreign currencies as ransom. But now, many – including the poor are at risk.
Trend signals top-to-bottom decay in society
While x-raying the trend, a sociologist and social commentator, Mr Obioma Nwogu, described what is being experienced now as a byproduct of the decay of societal values, claiming that he is not surprised that such are happening now.
“Such crimes are expected in a metropolitan setting like Lagos
“Crimes are committed with available technologies and whatever that is open to criminals in the society in time and space.
“What we are seeing now signals a compelling pyramidal decay of the societal values. No segment of the society from the top to the bottom is exempted.”
He lamented that the decay had affected every institution within the society, regretting that undue emphasis had been placed on wealth without hard work.
“Our society missed it when it began to place extraordinary emphasis on the Marchiavalin principle: ‘The end justifies the means.’ Meaning that however anyone makes money is acceptable to the society.
“We should be sorely worried about this total decay of our societal values,” he said while lamenting how things have dramatically changed for the worse.
“These days, our traditional institutions have been debased. Our traditional rulers now fall over themselves to give titles to even kids not minding their ages – all because they flaunt money. Our churches and mosques hand out honours to the undeserving because they come with tons of cash.
“Now, the question is what does that mean for our society? The young ones after seeing this trend want to belong. They want to make money – at all costs. They are ready to kidnap, kill – they are ready to do anything for money.
“Now, the youths are employing what is available to them to commit crime. Long before now, who knew about cyber crime? So, the more technology evolves, the more it is being incorporated into the crime world. The criminals now are using whatever that is available to them – whether it is a bus or helicopter or computer to accomplish their motive.”
Why crime is on the rise
According to Amuwa, the increase in today’s crime is attributable to rising poverty.
“We have to blame poverty and worsening economy for much of these things.
“I noted during the COVID-19 pandemic era that with loss of jobs and businesses, coupled with the growing quest for easy money by our youths will do us in. Our society is bound to pay dearly for this.
“Even now, the inflation rate is going higher and higher; it is going to be difficult for people to stay away from crime.
“If you ask me, we are collectively reaping what we sowed,” he said.
Mr Nwogu described what is going on as change in value.
He said: “What we have now are called system change and within-the-system change. The latter addresses those changes that occur gradually without anybody noticing them. Over time, they affect the entire system; then everything begins to change. This might usher in a new system. No one can say this is how new the new system is going to be. People will begin to react and say ‘let’s now fashion out how we want to live in this society going forward’ in terms of laws or motives.
“But if you ask me, I will say this is a manifestation that the family has failed. Religious bodies have failed. The traditional institutions too have failed; the government as well has failed. Every member of these institutions is a product of the family.”
Way out of mess
Mr Amuwa acknowledged that Lagos State is doing a lot trying to secure the state. But he wants something else to be tried.
“The government needs to give security education to the residents.
“The majority of the security situations people encounter daily are things they can easily protect themselves from. For instance, a five-year old in UK or USA knows how to call 911. He knows when a situation is no longer palatable.
“The late Bamishe, it was learnt, sent a voice message to her friend. But she could have taken her effort higher. She had already known that something was going bad. What she could have done was to send that message to the appropriate quarters.
“But how many persons in Lagos know that they can send such message to 767 or 112. Even if they know, how often do they utilize it? And if they do, people in that agency, how quickly do they respond to such emergencies?
“Then, the girl would have made that call to the hearing of the driver. Because she was already feeling unsafe, and the driver had not allegedly picked other passengers he was believed to have picked. Immediately the driver knew that the girl was making a call to a third party, he would likely change his mind.
“It is possible so many other persons who were not as sharp she had lost their lives in a manner like that,” he noted.
He advised people to go out with pepper spray or stun guns where they can afford it.
Aside, he blamed the leadership for what is going on at the moment warning: “Soon, 2023 elections will be here, if we fail to vote right once again, we should be ready to embrace the worst.”
For Nwogu, the right way to go now is to “put the family right.” He maintained that “every member of the existing institutions is a product of the society. If we get it right at the family level, the society gets it right.”
Police advice
The Lagos State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mr Adekunle Ajisebutu acknowledged that Lagos being a metropolitan community is bound to experience crimes.
“To tell you the truth, there is nowhere in the world where crime can be totally eradicated. There is no society that is free from crisis and crimes.”
He recalled that “what we are witnessing predates the present commissioner of police.
“Yes, we have hoodlums, we have miscreants. But we have been doing our best to net them through aggressive community policing.
“When such crimes are committed, we take appropriate actions to deal with the situation.”
He assured the resident that the police were doing all they could to provide “visibility policing across the nooks and crannies of the state.”
He, therefore, urged members of the public to offer the police “useful, credible and accurate information to help tackle crimes in the state,” stating “we are human beings too and cannot be everywhere.
“If there are places that need to be more adequately policed, residents should let us know so that we can increase the number of our men in those areas.”