Vivian Onyebukwa And Vera Wisdom-Bassey
Daily movement of people within and outside Lagos metropolis is becoming more difficult and complex these days. This is caused, in the main, by the increasing heavy traffic being experienced by motorists and commuters, especially during peak hours in the morning when people are going to work or business places, and in the evenings when they are returning.
In most cases, the cause of the traffic snarl could be ongoing road construction or reconstruction/rehabilitation of old ones, inefficient transport management by men and women in-charge, broken down vehicles, potholes/bad spots, inconsiderate and selfish behaviour by some drivers who deliberately disrupt traffic order by driving against the flow. It could also be caused by road flooding after heavy rainfall or indiscipline as seen in road narrowing by petty traders who encroach into motorway while displaying their wares by the roadside.
This situation, coupled by current harsh economic realities, have resulted in the sudden return of traffic robbers whose activities were terminated in the recent past by security outfits, Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and Operation MESSA, which raided many dark spots and rid Lagos of armed robbery gangs that used to prowl about the city.
Now they are back in full force. And, they are bold, fearless, daring, vicious, merciless and acts with a sense of desperation. They rob in the daytime and they rob at night. Wherever there is traffic gridlock and they can help it, they rob. They dispossess people of their money and other valuables. And, sometimes they do that on daily basis at a particular spot. Some victims who narrated their experiences naturally expressed shock and anger at the treatment they received in the hands of these men of the underworld and called on Lagos State government under Babajide Sanwo-Olu to do something urgent about the situation.
People’s fear and governor’s assurance
On Monday, June 17, 2019, the governor met and held an emergency state security meeting at Lagos Housse, Alausa with Commander, 651 Airforce Base, Ikeja, Air Commodore Sunday Makinde; Director of Department of State Security (DSS), Lagos Command, M.S. Abdulfatai, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Lagos Command, DCP. Ali Mohammed; Chief of Staff to the governor, Mr. Tayo Ayinde; Commander 9 Brigade Army Cantonment, Ikeja, Nasiru Mohammed and Commander NNS Beecroft, Commodore Ibrahim Shettima, during which he vowed to overhaul the security architecture of the state.
“We are just coming out of a security meeting and I wish to assure Lagosians that issues that bother on contemporary security challenges, including cultism, kidnapping, armed robbery, pipeline vandalism and indiscriminate driving against traffic were at the top of discussion,” he told reporters during a media briefing. “We are going to revamp our security architecture. All our security formations have been briefed and they are well situated and well-informed at keeping Lagos safe and secured.”
Well, so far that has not happened, especially with regard to traffic robbery which some believe could be stemmed by decongesting traffic at many chokepoints in Lagos. Given the situation, most Lagosians are afraid to visit some parts of the city at night for fear of being robbed while they are stuck in traffic. The places they fear most include: Oshodi, Cele Bus-Stop, Egbe Bridge in Isolo, Council in Idimu, Hostel Bus Stop area in Ikotun-Egbe, Obalande, Aguda, Ijesha Express bus stop, Costain/Brewery in Iponri/Iganmu, among others. These are dark spots that people dread to pass or drive through as from 7pm. It has become a nightmare as unsuspecting people are robbed of their valuables like phones, money, handbags, etc by hoodlums brandishing all kinds of dangerous weapons – guns, machetes, daggers, etc with which they harass and intimidate their victims.
Ex-governor’s aide recounts ordeal
Some of the victims recounted their experiences to Saturday Sun. Ekene Okoro, a journalist and former aide to the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, is yet to recover from his shocking experience in the hands of robbers on his way back from work some months ago. He was robbed in the rain on that fateful day. According to him, although he had been reading about victims’ encounters on social media, he never imagined he could come face-to-face with the daredevil traffic robbers. Until the incident, he added, had only heard about cases involving colleagues, close friends, relatives and a few friends, on his platform.
Narrating his ordeal that took place on a Wednesday, at about 9 pm, he said: “I had just dropped off my colleague and friend at Iyana Itire. I felt pity for him because the rain was pummeling hard, fast and furious. I had no umbrella to give him, but he assured me that he would be fine and would be home in no time. As I drove off, driving became a little bit harder with the rain falling in sheets and covering my windscreen. Even my wipers could do little to help the situation. The construction work on Oshodi Apapa expressway main lane inward Mile 2 meant that all vehicles approaching Cele Express bus stop must negotiate the service lane to continue with their journey. I had become familiar with the route, so it was no big a problem, even under the downpour.
“But I discovered that less than 200 metres from Cele bus Stop (PM Fuel Station), a little traffic had built up, perhaps caused by the rain and a few cars driving in the opposite direction. I kept to the lane on the left, really for no reason but for the fact that I felt it would move faster. While enjoying a solemn gospel track, two young guys, perhaps in their twenties, approached from the opposite direction of the road and stopped right in front of my car. The vehicle in front was a commercial TATA bus, hence, they needed the next private vehicle to perpetrate their nefarious intention.
“Oga wind down your glass or I go break am”, one of them bellowed while brandishing in his right hand an old-fashioned machete. I saw something like that last in my village a few years ago. The other had an old dane pistol. I had seen a few guns like that in some Nollywood series I managed to watch in recent times. On the spur of the moment, I recalled the experience of my very good friend, colleague and Public Affairs Officer, Olasukanmi Idowu, who had a nasty encounter with traffic robbers about a month ago. Incidentally, he was driving the same brand of car that day. Immediately, I complied. “Oya bring the money, bring your phone”, the two uncoordinated robbers barked at me.
“Unfortunately for them and fortunately for me, I had only N1, 800 under the hand rest of my car. Actually, it was N2000 a few minutes ago before the incident, but since the brand new airport road had become my favourite route in recent times, I had parted earlier with N200 at the tollgate. I offered them the cash and my Tecno phone. They were unimpressed. “Oga come down jo”, one of them ordered me, preferring to conduct the ultimate search by himself. Flashing lights from the cars at the rear, perhaps gave away my wristwatch as one of them instructed me to take it off my wrist, while the other continued the frantic search, scattering my documents and papers in the pigeon hole. Done with me, they ordered me to move.
“At this point, I felt they wanted to use me as a bait to raid other vehicles behind. The rain kept pouring. There I was, barefooted, I had taken off my shoes earlier to free my legs a bit, walking in the rain. I felt like laughing; it seemed like a scene from a movie, but it was real and I was the main character. As soon as I saw that they were distracted with their next victim, the first thought that came into me was to run far away from the scene but a second thought asked me to head back to my car and zoom off. I listened to the second thought. I sneaked back to my car, approaching it from the front, hoping to jump in and zoom off. But alas! They had taken my car key as a collateral damage. My car, I guessed, needed to be motionless in order to create artificial traffic and trap more victims.
“Realising this, I stood by my car, with my hands akimbo, watching as the boys had a field day moving from car to car. Some motorists put up a fight, some complied like I did. Those who resisted had their car windows shattered. Satisfied, the robbers made their way to the other side of the road into the waiting arms of an Okada rider, perhaps the third man in the team. At this point, I summoned up courage and approached them. “Bros, what of my key na ?”, I asked. I beckoned again, this time speaking their native language. One of them searched his pocket for it and offered to throw it to me than have me approach them, maybe for fear of the unknown. I collected my keys and continued my journey. Too many thoughts at that point raced through my mind. I had really lost nothing to them, but the experience was unbelievable to say the least. I thought of the experience of others and just smiled sheepishly. But my greatest loss would be some memorable videos, recordings, photos gathered in the last four years, especially that of my family on my phone.”
Saturday Sun correspondent’s narrow escape
On Saturday, August 31, 2019, it became the turn of one of our correspondents to have a taste of the traffic robbery ordeal. Incidentally, it happened while she was out to gather facts that will be used to build this story. Time was about 7.30 pm. The place: Orile Iganmu, Lagos, precisely at Doyin Bus Stop where in years past motorists caught in the regular traffic melee of that place used to suffer armed robbery attacks until Fashola came and changed the situation and made the business unattractive.
As soon as she alighted from a bus that she boarded from Costain to Doyin, she saw people running helter-skelter in different directions. As she stopped in her track to understand what was going on, she saw some of them, especially ladies, being hotly pursued by some young men holding guns, machetes and other dangerous weapons. A lady was on the ground weeping profusely that all she made for the day had gone. Narrating her ordeal, Onyinyechi Eze, one of the ladies who was robbed, said she had closed from her place of business in Idumota and boarded a bus going to Orile-Iganmu, when upon alighting at Doyin Bus Stop, all hell let loose.
As soon as she alighted, according to her, a young man approached her and demanded for her handbag. Initially, she hesitated, but on sighting a cutlass in his hand, she submitted it with all its contents which include some cash and her phones. Our reporter who narrowly escaped being robbed too at that bus stop said that the robbers usually take undue advantage of heavy traffic gridlock that usually occur in the evenings around that place to rob passengers and motorists inside the cars and those alighting from commercial buses, by wielding many dangerous weapons.
“Apart from motorists caught in the traffic, the lady whose handbag was snatched and the woman whose daily sales was also snatched, I saw a man lying on the ground and being beaten with a heavy pipe by one of the robbers,” our correspondent said. “While that was on, I saw another crowd of people running towards me while being pursued by two other armed robbers. I decided to run with them. I was lucky that I narrowly missed being robbed. Funny enough, I was out that day to source for stories on traffic robbery, which I learnt, has returned and even become rampant with the increasing traffic jam in Lagos. The evening of Saturday, August 31, 2019, is a day that many people who got caught up in the heavy traffic at Doyin Bus Stop will never forget in a hurry. I was to learn later that they do rob at that bus stop almost every evening. They rob not only occupants of cars caught in the heavy traffic but also anybody, alighting passengers and pedestrians passing through that area at such a time.”
A traumatic experience for a tri-cyclist and civil servant
A tri-cyclist, Mr. Ike Emeka from Ebonyi State who plies his trade between Obalande and Eko Hotel in Victoria Island, narrated how he was attacked at Obalende after closing from work. He said he was going home when these men of the underworld on bike attacked him and demanded his phones and everything he made for the day. “As God would have it, I surrendered my two phones,” he said. “These made them not to demand for my money. I was lucky because the money I made for the day was hidden on the floor of the Keke and my legs were on it. I was so shocked by what happened that I decided to drive home immediately.”
The experience was also a shocking one for a civil servant who simply gave her name as Ade. She said at about 9:35p.m on that fateful day, she came face-to-face with some dare-devil Lagos traffic robbers. According to her, she had just dropped off some of her colleagues along Iyana Itire when she was attacked. “There was downpour that day and I was going home when two men in their 20s came close to my car. I thought it was men who were selling gala, not knowing that they were bad boys. About less than 200 metres from Cele bus stop, a little traffic had built up, and I kept to the lane on the left, when out of the darkness, I heard, “Madam wetin you get for us?” And that was it. Before I knew it, they opened the door of my car and began to search for phones and other valuables in my handbag. It was in the process of this that they collected my handbag and left.” According to her, she was so much afraid that she quickly wound up her car windscreen. She could not shout but drove out as fast as she could and did not stop until she got home.
A banker and a trader recount their ordeals
Joe Effiong, a banker, was robbed on his way home some nights ago along Oluti bus stop, before Alakija at a point leading to Festac axis. “I was robbed of huge sums of money whilst the glass of my car was smashed, in a slow-moving traffic at about 9 pm, that day. I was attacked by four armed robbers, with two of them on each side of the glasses displaying machetes and guns. In a husky voice one of them said, ‘Surrender everything you have or I waste your life now’. As he was still talking, one smashed my glasses. I had no other choice than to allow them take anything they wanted. My life is more important than money and telephone. Honestly, what I experienced that day is enough reason to thank God as I and an occupant of my car were not harmed but for slight injuries we sustained from the shattered glasses.”
Agnes Okere, a trader at Alaba International Market, who lives at Wilmer, Olodi, Apapa, is yet to recover from her shocking experience in the hand of traffic robbers. “I was going home after the day’s business and joined a neighbour who sells electronics at Alaba and who also lives very close to me at Wilmer area of Olodi, Apapa,” she recalled. “We passed through Old Ojo Road and joined Kirikiri from where we hoped to connect Wilmer Road. Unfortunately, we encountered a very terrible traffic that kept us on top of the Berger Bridge for more than an hour. All of a sudden, these daredevil traffic robbers emerged from the back, brandishing guns and cutlasses. They were six of them. Three came to my side while the other three went to the driver’s side. They asked us to bring money. I asked: ‘which money?” Without waiting for an answer, one of them looked at my neck, stretched out his hand, and, quickly grabbed the necklace and cut it. He was so forceful about it that his fingernails left a deep mark on my neck. Before I knew what was happening, one of them looked inside the car and saw my handbag on the floor of the car, bent down and took it away. On the part of my neighbour who gave me a ride home, they took his phones and some money he kept in the pigeonhole and walked away to continue to rob other motorists. I was shocked at the swiftness and skills that these criminals displayed as they carried out their activities.”
Another shocking experience
Muri Oladokun, a relative of Chief Iyiola Oladokun, Oyo State governorship aspirant, told the story of how he was robbed around Ladipo area of Lagos State. According to him, he was robbed together with his colleagues in the vehicle, when a bystander pointed others to him as related to the Oyo State governorship aspirant. Thereafter, some hoodlums started chasing his vehicle with knives and clubs. “Ladipo is a no-go area and the police nearby are bunch of rubbish,” he said while narrating his bitter experience. “When we reported to the police, the officer simply exclaimed, “in broad daylight?” The officer instead asked me for egunje (bribe) before he could commence investigation. It appears these criminals are gaining more grounds with each passing day, as more Lagosians continue to get robbed of their valuables, day and night by these young men who have mastered their art to near-perfection. The government and all appropriate authorities must rise above rhetorics and tackle this menace headlong before it grows into an uncontrollable one.”
Helpless and frustrated residents react
To tackle the menace headlong, the state government under Sanwo-Olu, will need to tackle, seriously, the issue of bad roads causing traffic jam. Though it has started doing this with a steady focus, but a lot still remains to be done with regard to repairs of dilapidated roads across the mega city. In a reaction to this ugly situation, about six Community Development Areas (CDAs) in Lagos recently staged a protest to Alausa, to lament the state of roads in their areas which they alleged were aiding traffic robbery attacks.
The six CDAs comprising Progressive, Majeobaje, Millennium Housing Estate, Hope Garden 1&2 Estate, and Alayo Joint Community Development Association, LCDA Ijaiye Ojokoro, appealed to the governor to save them from the traffic robbers that have descended lately on their communities, by rehabilitating their roads. Mr. Yemi Adebisi, the joint coordinator of the CDAs, lamented that he himself was recently attacked by the robbers as a result of the bad roads. He added that whenever they call the police they also complain of bad roads impeding their access to the communities.
Residents resort to jungle justice
But elsewhere residents and commuters have decided to take the law into their hands. For instance, recently, a suspected traffic robber was lynched and set ablaze by a mob along the Badagry Expressway in Lagos. The incident occurred under the bridge at International Trade Fair, Ojo, about the time traders were going home. The suspect, it was gathered, was part of a three-man gang that had been terrorising motorists on that part of the road. The young man and his other gang members were seen roaming the area between Trade Fair and Mile Two. Their suspicious movement on motorbikes alerted onlookers on the possibility that they could be traffic robbers. They rode on three motorcycles which they later parked somewhere off the road around Abule-Osun.
But unknown to them, they were being observed closely not only by people but by also some policemen. Following the surveillance, when one of the suspects moved to the other side of the Express way and attacked a motorist, the policemen came after him. But he took off. They pursued him and double-crossed his motorcycle around Trade Fair but he quickly abandoned it and fled on foot. Because of the traffic, the policemen could not give him further pursuit. So, they recovered his motorcycle and a locally made gun. But unknown to the fleeing robber, he was running to his death as motorists who observed what was happening from their wing mirrors as well as traders going home immediately identified him and knocked him down .They thereafter set him ablaze before the police could get to the location.
But when, on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during his visits to Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Ikeja, and the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offence Enforcement Unit, Oshodi, and other agencies in the state, urged their security operatives to ensure that criminals do not have breathing space in the state, he did not have jungle justice by a lynch mob in mind.
The governor who assured that security of lives and property remained the topmost priority of his administration, said Lagos must not be made a safe haven for crimes, directing the officers to maintain constant security surveillance across the state and to flush out criminals from their hideouts. The police said they are already doing that.
What we are doing to curb the situation
–Police
Recently, a team of surveillance attached to the Lagos State Police Command arrested some traffic robbery suspects. Spokesperson of the command, DSP Bala Elkana, said in a statement that the suspects were arrested by the police patrol team on surveillance along Oshodi/Apapa Express way. According to him, the police operatives sighted some armed bandits at Toyota bus stop, under Daleko bridge, taking advantage of the traffic congestion there to rob motorists and other unsuspecting members of the public of their valuables such as laptops, cell phones and money.
The three of them, namely, Daniel Ani, 19; Akinbode Muiz, 17, and Oluwasegun Emmanuel, 24, were arrested. They confessed to being responsible for traffic robbery along Mushin and its environs .They also confessed to stealing numerous phones and bags from victims including a bag containing the sum of N25, 000 and belonging to one Oyebanji Ibukun of No 14, Waheed Olagunju Street, Okeafa, Isolo. Two knives and cutlasses were recovered from the suspects.
But following information supplied by an observant motorist, two other suspects namely Olalekan Taoreed, 20, of No.20, Sunday Street, Ijora Badia and Adeniyi Okunloye of No. 25, Alaba Road, Suru Alaba were also arrested. When some search was conducted on them, one Samsung Duos cell phone stolen from one of the victims was recovered. He said their arrest by the surveillance patrol team attached to Orile-Iganmu Police Station followed a distress call at 8 p.m. by a motorist that some traffic robbers were operating at Alafia area along Lagos Badagry Express Way, not too far from Doyin bus stop where our correspondent had the scary experience. When the police stormed the scene following the tip-off, one big sharp cutlass which they used in inflicting injuries on their victims was recovered. The suspects confessed to being responsible for traffic robberies along Orile and environs.
The Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, had warned that with the deployment of surveillance teams across the state, tough times await traffic robbers.“The command will continue to make Lagos State difficult for criminal elements to operate,” Elkana quoted Muazu to have promised. “The commissioner calls on Lagosians to be vigilant at all times.”
Over the last couple of months, the Lagos State Police Command says it has doubled its efforts and introduced fresh strategies in order to combat the menace of traffic robbery in the state. To this end, it has deployed undercover police officers to crime-prone areas to pretend to be traders, businessmen and passengers.