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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Crime / Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers (4006 Views)
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Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by jonbat(m): 3:50am On Apr 03, 2017 |
LAWRENCE ANINI: THE TRUE STORY OF ONE OF NIGERIA’S
MOST NOTORIOUS ARMED ROBBERS
Indeed, Nigeria has recorded only two types of armed
robbers: Lawrence Anini and Others.
No armed robber in the history of this Country has ever held
the entire country to ransom as Anini.
In fact, his reign was so bloody that he was even discussed
at the State Security Council meeting.
THIS IS HIS STORY:
Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini was born in a village about 20
miles from Benin City in present-day Edo State.
Anini was an only son of his Evbueisi-born mother, he had
two sisters. His father died when he was still a young boy.
Anini was brought to Benin where he was admitted at the
Oza Primary School but from a young age, he started
manifesting the signs of truancy.
He struggled to finish his primary school then entered the
Igiedumu Secondary School. He did not spend more than
three years when he dropped out of school, preferring to be
an apprentice at a local mechanic workshop. That was
around 1976.
Anini later migrated to Benin, learned to drive and became a
skilled taxi driver(Legend has it that he was the best driver
created by the Almighty).
He became known in Benin motor parks as a man who could
control the varied competing interests among motor park
touts and operators.
He later dived into the criminal business in the city and soon
became a driver and transporter for gangs, criminal
godfathers and thieves.
Later on, he decided to create his own gang which included:
1. Monday Osunbor (The Deadliest Man That Ever Lived),
2. Friday Ofege,
3. Henry Ekponwan,
4. Eweka and
5. Alhaji zed zed or Zegezege who was never captured.
They started out as car hijackers, bus robbers and bank
thieves.
Gradually, Anini and his gang extended their criminal acts all
over Benin City.
THE DEADLY ANINI’S REIGN OF TERROR:
Following the sudden overthrow of the politicians in the early
1980s and banning of politics in 1984 by the Buhari regime,
Anini discovered that armed robbery was far more lucrative
and that was when he formed his gang...
In early 1986, two members of his gang were tried and
prosecuted against an earlier under-the-table ‘agreement’
with the police to destroy evidence against the gang
members.
The incident, and Anini’s view of police betrayal, is believed
to have spurred retaliatory actions by Anini.
In August, 1986, Anini and his gang masterminded a fatal
bank robbery in which a police officer and others were killed.
That same month, two officers on duty were shot at a
barricade while trying to stop Anini’s car. During a span of
three months, he was known to have killed nine police
officers.
In an operation in August 1986, the Anini team struck at First
Bank, Sabongida-Ora, where they carted away N2,000(big
money back then). He killed many people that day.
On September 6, 1986, the Anini gang snatched a Peugeot
504 car from Albert Otoe, the driver of an Assistant Inspector
General of Police, Christopher Omeben. In snatching the car,
they killed the driver and went to hide his corpse somewhere.
It was not until three months later that the skeleton of the
driver was spotted 16 kilometers away from Benin City, along
the Benin-Agbor highway.
A day after this attack, Anini, operating in a Passat car
believed to have been stolen, also effected the snatching of
another Peugeot 504 car near the former FEDECO office, in
Benin.
Two days after, the Anini men killed two policemen in
Orhiowon Local Government of the state.
Still in that month, three different robbery attacks, all pointing
to Anini’s involvement, took place. They include the murder
of Frank Unoarumi, a former employee of the Nigerian
Observer newspapers; the killing of Mrs. Remi Sobanjo, a
chartered accountant, and the stealing of the Mercedes Benz
car in Benin, of the Ughelli monarch, the Ovie.
Before September 1986 drew to a close, Anini struck at a gas
station along Wire Road, Benin, where he stole a substantial
part of the day’s sales. He shot the station’s attendant and
gleefully started spraying his booty along the road for people
to pick.
The height of Anini’s exploits, however, took place on
October 1, 1986, the Independence Day when the state’s
Commissioner of Police, Casmir Igbokwe was ambushed by
the gang in Benin, and nearly yanked off his nose in a hail of
bullets. The police boss survived the attacks with serious
injuries. Earlier that day also, the Anini men had gunned
down a police man within the city
"The Law", as he was nicknamed, during an operation that
went bad had to escape from the police by driving in reverse
from Agbor (Delta State) to Benin City (Edo State). Indeed,
he was a real life "James Bond-007".
Also, on October 21 of same year, the Anini robbery gang
terminated the life of a Benin-based medical doctor, A.O
Emojeve when they gunned him down along Textile Mill Road,
in Benin.
Not done, Anini and gang went and robbed the Agbor branch
of African Continental Bank and carted away about N46, 000.
A day after the operation, Anini, The Law, turned to a ‘Father
Christmas’ as he strew wads of naira notes on the ground for
free pick by market men and women at a village near Benin.
Anini’s image thus loomed larger than life, he spearheaded a
four-month reign of terror between August and December
1986.
Anini also reportedly wrote numerous letters to media houses
using political tones of Robin Hood-like words, to describe his
criminal acts.
Worried by the seeming elusiveness of Anini and his gang
members, the military President, General Ibrahim Babangida
then ordered a massive manhunt for the kingpin and his
fellow robbers. The police thus went after them, combing
every part of Bendel State(Now Delta and Edo States) where
they were reportedly operating and living. The whole nation
was gripped with fear of the robbers and their daredevil
exploits.
However, Police manhunt failed to stop their activities; the
more they were hunted, the more intensified their activities
became. Some of the locals in the area even began to tell
stories of their invincibility and for a while, it felt like they
were never going to be caught.
However, at the conclusion of a meeting of the Armed
Forces Ruling Council in October 1986, General Babangida
turned to the Inspector- General of Police, Etim Inyang, and
asked, ‘My friend, where is Anini?’.
At about this time, Nigerian newspapers and journals were
also publishing various reports and editorials on the ‘Anini
Challenge’, the ‘Anini Saga’, the ‘Anini Factor’, ‘Lawrence
Anini – the Man, the Myth’, ‘Anini, Jack the Ripper’, and
‘Lawrence Anini: A Robin Hood in Bendel’. The Guardian
asked, emphatically, in one of its reports: ‘Will they ever find
Anini, “The Law”?’.
THE D-DAY: DAY OF RECKONING!!!
Finally, it took the courage of Superintendent of Police,
Kayode Uanreroro to bring the Anini reign of terror to an end.
On December 3, 1986, Uanreroro caught Anini at No 26,
Oyemwosa Street, opposite Iguodala Primary School, Benin
City, in company with six women. Acting on a tip-off from the
locals, the policeman went straight to the house where Anini
was hiding and apprehended him with very little resistance.
Uanreroro led a crack 10-man team to the house, knocked on
the door of the room, and Anini himself, clad in underpants,
opened the door. “Where is Anini,” the police officer quickly
enquired.
Dazed as he was caught off guard and having no escape
route, Anini all the same tried to be smart. “Oh, Anini is
under the bed in the inner room”. As he said it, he made
some moves to walk past Uanreroro and his team. In the
process, he shoved and head-butted the police officer but it
was an exercise in futility.
Uanreroro promptly reached for his gun, stepped hard on
Anini’s right toes and shot at his left ankle. Anini surged
forward but the policemen took hold of him and put him in a
sitting position.
They then pumped more bullets into his shot leg and almost
severed the ankle from his entire leg. Already, anguished by
the excruciating pains, the policemen asked him, “Are you
Anini?” And he replied, “My brother, I won’t deceive you; I
won’t tell you lie, I’m Anini.”
(AT THIS POINT, PLEASE TAKE A CHILLED BOTTLE OF
WATER BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING)
Anini was from there taken to the police command
headquarters where the state’s Police Commissioner, Parry
Osayande, was waiting. While in the police net, Anini who
had poor command of English and could only communicate in
pidgin, made a whole lot of revelations.
He disclosed, for instance that Osunbor, who had been
arrested earlier, was his deputy, saying that Osunbor actually
shot and wounded the former police boss of the state,
Akagbosu
Anini was shot in the leg, transferred to a military hospital,
and had one of his legs amputated. That was after Monday
Osunbor was also captured. When Anini’s hideout was
searched, police recovered assorted charms, including the
one he usually wore around his waist during “operations”.
It was instructive that after Anini was captured and
dispossessed of his charms, the man who terrorized a whole
state and who was supposed to be fearless suddenly became
remorseful, making confessions. This was against public
expectation of a daredevil hoodlum who would remain defiant
to the very end.
THE ROLE OF THE POLICE IN ANINI’S EXPLOITS
Shortly after the arrest of Anini and his gang(excluding Alhaji
zed zed or Zegezege who was never captured, he may still be
alive living a normal life till date), the dare-devil robbers
began to cry and confess, revealing the roles played by key
police officers and men, in the aiding and abetting of
criminals in Bendel State and the entire country.
Anini particularly revealed that Iyamu, who was the most
senior police officer shielding the robbers, would reveal police
secrets to them and then, give them logistic supports such as
arms, to carry out robbery operations.
He further revealed that Iyamu, after each operation, would
join them in sharing the loot. It was further exposed how
Iyamu planned to kill Christopher Omeben, an Assistant
Inspector-General of Police in charge of Intelligence and
Investigation.
But Iyamu was later to be disappointed as the assailants
dispatched to eliminate Omeben were only able to kill his
driver, Otue, a sergeant. Iyamu, whom the robbers fondly
referred to as ‘Baba’, reportedly had choice buildings in Benin
City; being how he invested the loots he obtained from men
of the underworld
THE END OF ANINI AND HIS GANG
Due to amputation of his leg, Anini was confined to a
wheelchair throughout his trial.
Iyamu, on his part, denied ever knowing and collaborating
with Anini, but Anini The Law furiously retorted, “You are a
shameless liar!”
Anini had accused him before Justice James Omo-Agege in
the High Court of Justice, off Sapele Road in Benin City.
Of the 10 police officers Anini implicated, five were
convicted. The robbery suspects, including Iyamu, were
sentenced to death.
But in passing his judgement, Justice Omo-Agege remarked,
“Anini will forever be remembered in the history of crime in
this country, but it would be of un-blessed memory. Few
people if ever, would give the name to their children.” Their
execution took place on March 29, 1987.
|
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by jonbat(m): 3:54am On Apr 03, 2017 |
oga Seun make I put my account number? abi Wuna go contact me, cos I sure say this one go pure. first time things. I dey feel like NAIRALAND KING. MY LEVEL PASS QUEEN ELIZA OWN |
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by Nobody: 3:59am On Apr 03, 2017 |
Op the op...It was a good read. |
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by mr1759: 4:24am On Apr 03, 2017 |
if It was now I will not allow them kill this man, someone who will steal from the rich and go to market place and share it with the poorer of the poorest in our present Nigeria that person is better than our current president |
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by SmartMugu: 4:34am On Apr 03, 2017 |
This post is really ugly to read without any paragraphs. OP, please fix that. |
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by marhoinspire: 4:59am On Apr 03, 2017 |
copy and paste. no time to do proper editing .
too bad |
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by ipobarecriminals: 5:25am On Apr 03, 2017 |
How many times we go read dis tale here? MY FRIEND, WHERE IS ANINI? |
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by Desammyst(m): 5:40am On Apr 03, 2017 |
This story came up last year na. OP, re u high on something? Dis is Monday morning for crying out loud. |
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by malakus(m): 5:46am On Apr 03, 2017 |
Hope to read this later |
Re: Lawrence Anini: The True Story Of One Of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robbers by gqboyy(m): 5:57am On Apr 03, 2017 |
Nigerian Robin hood |
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