Christopher Oji 

It is  no longer news that criminals, especially cultists, have been terrorising residents of Lagos and adjoining suburbs in Ogun State. They have become more formidable and frontal, as they now write letters to communities informing them to prepare for a visit.

One of such letters written to residents of Surulere, Lagos, read in part: “We are visiting your area tomorrow. You are warned not to invite security agents. If you invite security agents, we will kill, but if you do not and give us what we want, we will not kill or cause injury.”

The gang kept its promise when it stormed the Balogun area of Iju, Lagos. The hoodlums had written to the community warning of their intented visit. The community was shocked that the gang came as they warned in a letter similar to one sent to Surulere, armed to the teeth, and engaged in a house-to-house raid. However, they met some resistance from youths of the area.

Two persons were allegedly shot in the midnight confrontation and they were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. There were other instances, and residents in the affected areas have different tales of woe. For many people in Lagos, Easter weekend, April 12, was particularly tense as residents lit bonfires with used tyres and kept watch, armed with anything from cutlasses to rakes and cudgels, waiting for the criminals.

Penultimate Monday, three suspected members of One Million Boys were apprehended when the gang descended on Igando, Lagos, in their large numbers. The gang met its Waterloo as angry residents, with the help of members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), overpowered them and beat those they were able to catch to death. The bodies of the suspects, aged between 17 and 18, were dumped in a canal.

A resident, Mukaila Dauda, said: “We were told that One Million wrote our area and nearby streets that they were coming. Since last week, we had been on vigil, waiting for them. On Monday, the gang stormed our area and we resisted them, until members of OPC came to assist us. The OPC members arrested three of them and took them to the canal, where they were beaten to death.”

He said the OPC members recovered a cigarette lighter from the suspects with which they set fire on peoples door net if they refused to open the door: “Before they were killed, they confessed that the lighter was meant to light fire on window nets, in order to gain access into victims’ apartments. One of the suspects said they didn’t mean to kill anyone. Before he gave up the ghost, he begged everyone he had stolen from since the lockdown started to forgive him, that he was forced to burgle homes because of hunger. He owned up that they were members of the notorious One Million Boys.”

Meanwhile, the police have arrested seven suspects who allegedly participated in the lynching. Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bala Elkana, said the police received a message that some people were murdered, and those involved in the murder have been arrested.

“For now, the information at my disposal is sketchy. When I get the details, I will let you know. As it is now, we cannot conclude about the group those who were killed belonged to. We are investigating,” the PPRO said.

The daring letters by One Million Boys came a few days after the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Muhammed Adamu, deployed a special intervention squad to Lagos and Ogun states, meaning that hoodlums were ready to confront the police. This made residents to wonder why the gang was so fearless.

In fact, One Million Boys dared residents of Oladehinde Street, by Osogbo Street, Surulere, during the lockdown imposed on the state to control the spread of COVID-19, as they stated in their warning letter.

A resident, Mr. Primate Simidele, said, “The gang fulfilled its threat as they came in large numbers to rob and attempted to rape some women, but we resisted them and quickly called the police. As we engaged the hoodlums, and knowing that a distress call was made to the police, they took to their heels but one of them fell inside the canal. The suspect sustained injuries and he was beaten to death by the angry mob.

“The divisional police officer in charge of Itire Police Station, CSP Adekunle Omisakin, was up to the task as he led his men to the place and brought the situation back to normal.”

Indeed, Itire Ikate LCDA as a whole has commended the efforts of the DPO, Obinna Orji. They corroborated Simidele’s narrative and gave accolades to the DPO for keeping vigil and bringing peace to the area.

Still in the period of the lockdown, a landlord, Mr. Taiwo, was shot dead in Adiyan, Ogun State, when hoodlums suspected to be One Million Boys, who had written a letter to the community and adjoining areas that they were coming, kept their promise. They also vowed to deal with the community if they informed the police about their visit. They saw Taiwo making distress calls and shot him dead.

Augustine Nnadi, a vulcanizer in Ogba, told Daily Sun that residents have lost confidence in the police and other security agencies, hence the resort to self-help.

However, a senior police officer, on the condition of anonymity, explained the new trend of brazen criminal activities and the seeming reluctance of law enforcement agents to go after the goons.

He said: “The criminals, especially One Million Boys, are daring us because they know that the prisons are full. So the court would just grant them bail or give them option of fine. Our correctional centres are full. After suffering to make arrests, the court would grant the hoodlums bail. Even when we secure court warrant to detain suspects, the correctional centres will reject the suspects and we have no alternative than to grant them bail.

“Second, many of the inmates know that a governor or chief justice of the federation or state could one day grant them amnesty. We are in deep trouble in Nigeria. The hoodlums no longer fear the police or their sister agencies. The irony of it all is that, even when amnesty is granted, the police are not involved.

“Our fear for the country these days is that crime will soon rise in geometrical ratio because the federal correctional centres across the country have released about 3,000 inmates and the state correctional centres are compiling lists of inmates to be released. What yardstick is the government using to release the inmates? As the government is releasing them, so also are the inmates planning how to regroup and form more formidable gangs, especially when they know that the prisons will reject them because of congestion.”

A journalist, Sam Anokam, said of the rising crime wave: “It is becoming clearer every day that Lagos state cannot cope with another two weeks of lockdown. Sanwo-Olu and his team would have to come up with a creative method to deal with the situation.

“Hoodlums are now taking advantage of this One Million Boys madness to wreak havoc on citizens. They steal, waylay people and rob them of their possessions, no thanks to the insecurity in the land.

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“The other day, a friend in the neighbourhood told me that when the alarm was raised that the One Million Boys were within the area, he alongside others went looking for them but didn’t see anybody. This, he said, has happened twice. No wonder the Baale of my area instructed that everyone should guard his area as report of boys stealing and robbing people is fast becoming a trend.”

In his submission, security analyst, Mr. Frank Oshanugor, publisher of Security Watch Magazine, said: “The One Million Boys cult group seems to have relied on the fact that Nigeria has a very weak system of criminal justice administration. I say so because, if criminal cases are investigated and prosecuted with urgency and convicts punished accordingly without any form of interference or manipulation of cases from any quarters, the tendency of other people to be involved in similar crimes would be reduced.

“So, my suggestion as part of solution to the unseemly bravado of the cult group is that the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State should impress it on all Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers that, henceforth, any arrested members of the group must be diligently prosecuted without compromise by way of releasing them after ‘settlement.’ Some of the boys have the courage to dare police because they know that they can buy their way with money if arrested.”

On his part, retired police officer, SP Mark Udeh, blamed the police authorities for giving impetus to criminals, especially organised gangs, to reign supreme. According to Udeh: “I have been in the force and I know how the system operates. It is the junior police officers or the rank and file that do the 90 per cent of the job. They are responsible for investigation and arrests, but they take orders from the seniors (SPOs). No matter how diligent and dutiful a rank and file is, he must be submissive to his or her superior. In the police parlance, if a senior officer gives orders, the junior officer must obey. Senior officers can easily rope their juniors to any allegation and he must go in for it because he or she can be easily be dismissed by setting up orderly room trial.

“My argument is that, when a criminal is arrested, orders normally come from above to release suspects. Family members of suspects know how to settle with senior police officers that will give instructions to the junior officers to release any suspect of interest. When any suspected One Million Boys member is arrested, a senior officer can drop the name of the Inspector-General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Assistant Inspector-General of Police, and so on, and claim that order came from them to release the suspect of their interest. Who is a rank and file to contest the order of a superior officer? Two things happen, first, the junior officers who do the arrest, investigation and prosecution may collect money and release the suspect or they might compromise and do a shoddy job, so there will be no reasonable and concrete evidence to establish a serious case against the suspect.

“Again, if a police officer has successfully arrested and prosecuted a case against the suspect, it is left in the hands of the judge or the magistrate to give stringent punishments to the suspect and his accomplices. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we used to experience a situation where we took suspects to the court and the magistrate or the judge would order their remand but the prison officials would reject the suspects. We may not have enough space in our cells. What do we do when we are faced with that kind of situation? We would take suspects to KiriKiri Prisons, we would be directed to Ikoyi, but Ikoyi would still reject the suspects because of lack of space, the prisons are always congested.

“The prisons quickly grabbed the idea of releasing inmates to avoid the spread of coronavirus among inmates. The prisons had been waiting for the opportunity. But our fear is that majority of inmates the prisons are releasing are unrepentant criminals that will soon be on the loose.”

Lending his voice to the issue, retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police Don Iroham said: “It is a pity that I don’t have a complete picture of their exploits. I must hasten to say, however, that when a group of criminals decides to resort to such archaic and unconventional tactics, it is symptomatic of an open challenge to those who wield power on behalf of the people.

“The police force is just a tiny fraction of the executive branch in a democracy. Political authority lies with the political bigwigs. These are actually the ones who give police direction and formulate policy. So, what is the state of preparedness on the part of the police to contain such threats?”

However, a prison warden, Augustine (surname withheld), told Daily Sun that, before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nigeria Correctional Service had been “having issues with the police.”

“We have been rejecting suspects, not because we are happy, but because of prison congestion. Our prisons are full. Government, during this period of coronavirus, in their own magnanimity, gave instructions that we should decongest the prisons, which we are glade to do. Anyway, I feel for the police, because they have a lot of work to do. The pressure is too much on them. Crime rate will increase drastically.

“The police officer who spoke with you was right. Some of the released inmates will still regroup and form more formidable gangs. Some of them who learnt handiwork may change, but majority of them will be jobless, and an idle mind is the Devil’s workshop.”

Twenty-five inmates serving various jail terms at the Nigerian Correctional Service, Kwale Custodian Centre, Delta State, last Monday, regained their freedom following deliberate steps to decongest the centre in order to stem the spread of coronavirus disease in the state.

Delta State Chief Judge, Justice Marshal Umukoro, told newsmen in Kwale the exercise was sequel to a directive from Abuja to the Delta State government to release convicts who have less than three years to serve their terms as a measure to curtail the spread of the ravaging global scourge.

He explained that the beneficiaries fell into the category of those who were terminally ill, low-risk offenders, some who ought not to be there and those who have less than three years to serve. Those convicted for serious offences like kidnapping, murder and armed robbery were not included in the current exercise, even as he advised such convicts to approach the committee on prerogative of mercy for amnesty.

National public relations officer of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Mr. Chuks Njoku, reacting to the release of supposed hardened criminals, said: “The correctional centres have no power to release inmates. We are just custodians. The government has prerogative of mercy to release inmates but, before inmates are released, the court must be involved. The judge must look critically at the case files of inmates. Of course, the police would have investigated the cases before charging. Those who were released or are going to be released are those who have health challenges; those who up to 60 years but without capital offences, those who have no business to be in the centres.

“I wonder about the public outcry that the government is releasing inmates. It was the same public that cried to the government to release inmates. Why would they kick against it? We don’t just release inmates and allow them to go like that. Most of them that have spent years with us have learnt one craft or the other. We follow them up and give them money to buy tools. We call it ‘after care.’ Except for those who have not spent up to six months, there is nothing we can do about them.

“My appeal to members of the public is for them not to stigmatise ex-convicts, but accept them and help them, because, if you don’t accept and help them, they will go back to crime.”

Regardless of the reasons for amnesty for convicts, a rights activist, Paul Okolie, kicked against releasing inmates without proper vetting. He said, “They are going back to the streets to become more formidable, knowing that they are not going to be accommodated in prison or that, even when they are taken back to the court, they will still be freed.

“Yesterday, some cult members who threatened to storm Ikotun, Lagos, dared the police, and more than 20 of them were arrested, but what happens to the suspects? They may soon be granted bail and they will come back to the streets,” he said.

Lagos State PPRO, Elkana, also called on youths, especially those who have taken it on themselves to form vigilance groups, to steer clear of the streets to enable the police do their job. He assured all residents that the police were on top of the situation as the IGP had deployed an intervention squad, headed by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police, to complement the state command’s efforts in ridding Lagos of crime.

According to Elkana: “People are just raising false alarms. Where are the One Million Boys? One Million Boys have been caged. We have over 800 of them, including their leaders, in the prisons. The arrests were made before the lockdown started. So, where are they?”

He said the police have been responding to distress calls and “when we arrived the scenes, we discovered that the youths in the areas would be carrying weapons, claiming that they were keeping vigil to ward off criminals.”

“That is why we are advising the youths to go indoors and allow the police to do their job. I urge Lagosians to go about their normal duties, as the police are in every nook and cranny to give maximum security to them,” he said.