₦airaland Forum

In the bustling town of Aguleri in Anambra State, sometime in the late 1970s, a child was born who would one day haunt the nightmares of southeastern Nigeria. His name was Okwudili Ndiwe, but the world would come to know him as Derico Nwamama.

Like many young boys in the chaotic Nigeria of the 1990s, Okwudili grew up amidst poverty, instability, and the lure of fast money. His first steps into crime were small pickpocketing, snatching purses in the busy markets of Onitsha and blending into the crowd like a ghost.

But Derico was no ordinary petty thief. He was daring, cunning, and dangerously ambitious.

As the years passed, Derico began to build a name in Onitsha’s criminal underworld.

His turning point came when he eliminated another feared criminal, known as Chiejina. That brutal act wasn’t just a gangland execution, it was a power grab, and from that moment, Derico was king.

He quickly formed a heavily armed gang, carried out bank robberies, interstate bus ambushes, and orchestrated mass killings. His cruelty stunned even hardened criminals. His operations were meticulously planned: he lived luxuriously in Abuja, only returning to the East to strike. After each heist, he vanished untraceable and untouchable.

By the year 2000, Derico had become a walking legend. Stories circulated that bullets couldn’t pierce his skin, that he was protected by powerful charms from native doctors.

He openly boasted: “No man born of a woman can kill me.”

Derico’s gang became notorious for:

Bank robberies, often leaving behind blood and destruction.

Highway ambushes, especially on the roads between Onitsha, Asaba, and Agbor.

Threat letters to the police, warning them not to touch his men.

Killings of robbed passengers sometimes for fun and sometimes to eliminate witnesses.

His most horrifying crime occurred in December 2000, at Upper Iweka, Onitsha. Derico stopped a 59-seater bus returning from Lagos. After robbing the passengers, he opened fire and killed almost everyone. Only four survived.

That massacre marked a turning point for him. Derico was no longer just a thief. He was now Nigeria’s Public Enemy Number One.

The people were terrified, and the police were helpless. Even the then Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, had no solution. Derico seemed supernatural, vanishing before arrest, striking unexpectedly, and killing without mercy.

In May 2001, the police launched a formal manhunt: Operation Derico. Several of his gang members were arrested, including his trusted bike rider, Amobi, but Derico remained elusive. He mocked the security forces, and in June 2001, he even raided a police station to seize weapons, preparing for a massive bank heist. His confidence was so high, he started collaborating with other gangs for larger, more daring robberies.

With the police outmatched, Governor Mbadinuju turned to the Bakassi Boys; a feared vigilante group known for brutal justice. These were no ordinary men. Armed with machetes, talismans, and native charms, the Bakassi Boys stormed Anambra.

In July 2001, they captured Derico alive in Onitsha. Shirtless, bruised, and terrified, he was paraded through the streets, no longer the invincible phantom he once claimed to be.

And then, in front of a massive crowd at Ochanja Market, the Bakassi Boys carried out their judgment.

They executed Derico Nwamama by machete.

No trial. No lawyers. Just the blade and the roar of a people finally free from fear.

His death was widely seen as justice served, a symbolic end to an era of terror. Yet it also raised troubling questions about vigilante justice and the failure of Nigeria’s formal security institutions.

Derico's story has since become part of street folklore and urban legend across Nigeria.

In 2004, a Nollywood film titled “Derico Nwamama” dramatized his life and crimes. His name is still referenced in songs, street interviews, and discussions on crime, symbolizing the dark height of unchecked violence in southeastern Nigeria.

To this day, older residents in Anambra speak of him not as a myth, but as a real, terrifying force that once ruled the streets.

#history_daily

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JXsuLiyS8/ nlfpmon.d

No be today criminality start for naija

I remembered how and when the bakasi boys stormed Onitsa back then....I heard of how deadly they were then...To the extent that Nollywood had to even produce a movie titled "ISAKABA",..
The stories flew across all over Nigeria....I remember how a similar group was formed in Ughelli around 2002.....Then, criminals were having a steady field day around the town,but with the arrival of the group,the whole town was flared up with many burnt corpse of criminals.......

Derico Nwamama is indeed a very sad reality and criminality that dent the chequered history of alaigbo in hard work, ever resilient and never-say-die spirit of the Igbo. He opted for the fastest way to hell - criminality and to hell he descended.

Sonnobax15:
No be today criminality start for naija
Seum take note.

The Lawrence Aninis, Monday Osunburs, Oyenusis and the Police Officer killed for aiding Aninis have long been in it before it reached alaigbo.

Thank goodness Derico Nwamama was killed as when due. Kudus to the bakassi boys though they were later being used by politicians to get even @ their enemies.

Don't forget his Mentor
Lawrence Anini from South West
That is where they all got their inspiration.

Anini showed them the blueprint.

The same way Derico ended is how Gentle General the Okigwe criminal and kidnapper claiming to fight for Biafra will end.


If not for the suspected federal government agents hand in the current insecurity in the Southeast, trust me, Gentle General criminal and his fellow unscrupulous Igbo boys terrorizing Southeast while lying to themselves that they are fighting for Biafra, would have all been eliminated

I thought the story of Isakaba boys is just mere fiction?
Someone should tell me a little about it

Being a criminal is not a good thing at all. It is bad.

how many times una go bring this story to front page
Mod ebi like say una no no wetin Una dey do again

That guy was a source of pain and death to anyone that crosded his part in onitsha....I enjoyed the film that portrayed his personal demeanour and violence...especially the part Nkem owoh played in that film

Is it every single month we will repeat this story?

Nawa oh!

LeeSmart:
I thought the story of Isakaba boys is just mere fiction?
Someone should tell me a little about it

khai. Somebody wey them born when I don finish sec school has arrived. B4 2000/2001, for east, it was under daylight seige of dare devil robbers, ritualists, b4 governor mbadinuju inaugurated bakassi boys. It was fire for fire. Bullet for bullet in every nook and cranny of Anambra between bakkassi and criminals. Anini Lawrence, ofeghe,Monday osunbor group in mid 1980s were the koko of robbery. They terrorized Nigeria. Babangida even declared emergency. He was finally caught and executed, along with his gang, in 1987. B4 1999, armed robbers and murderers were publicly executed by millitary

Racoon:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JXsuLiyS8/ nlfpmon.d

Who is This Derrica ? No Derrica of Rice ? Small boy forming big boy. Lawrence Anini is the chairman of all Criminals in Nigeria. If you do not know who that is Ask your father if he is 45 years and above.

Lawrence Anini terrorized Nigeria that a whole IBB asked the head of police in Nigeria on national tv when they saw at a function. " Where is Anini " . Anini was front page news when the reigned

Lawrence Anini is the Goat. Type Lawrence Anini on Google and you will see how far.

This guy matter never rest ni

This guy is dead since 2001 but his rugged history lives.

Till date i still see his story on facebook

But the contents/story contains some false information.

Derico is from Onitsha not aguleri.

His name is Okwudili Ndiwe

The pic above is Okpompi one of the Bakkasi commander not him. Derico is darker than the man above.

He used part of Umuleri/Aguleri as hide out but he is from Onitsha.

Am from Onitsha too, so i know about him.

Derico fought for Aguleri against Umuleri back then.

That's when Onitsha still hot, but now many strong guys are no more.

I remember this era very well. Deri nwa mama, that was when everyone was ready to fight insecurity to a halt

back then movies were made portraying him but the one emeka ike played as the villain and Julius agu as the hero was the best amongst them.

cezarman:
Is every single month we will repeat this story?

Nawa oh!

Seun and his mods are now jobless
no news anymore shame on you

Nwa mama, remembered those years. Now it's all history.

Whoever knows Gentle the Yahoo and Angel Make up should tell them that their end is near.

We know they don't sleep well, and they have even dreamt of the own death like Odumodu of Ihitenansa did before he was sent overboard.

They will not be the first to disturb the peace of the East and they will not be the last. Many have gone before them, and they are just on the queue to hell.

Everyday Derico na wa o
How many times you guys wan profile this guy here on NL?

So no be today people from the yeast starter there criminality

Him nor bad reach the famous anini of Benin city that year

Every bad egg in my alaigbo always start from Anambra, why?

Imagine if he had came from Ebonyi state? Those miscreants would've been shouting hell on the people of Ebonyi state.

Racoon:
The Lawrence Aninis, Monday Osunburs, Oyenusis and the Police Officer killed for aiding Aninis have long been in it before it reached alaigbo.

Thank goodness Derico Nwamama was killed as when due. Kudus to the bakassi boys though they were later being used by politicians to get even @ their enemies.

Lawrence Anini is the King of robbers " all others are thieves and robbers " Anini would rob in Edo at 7.00pm by 6.00 am it would be front page news in bold letters . The Entire nation was under his spell. He was just 27 when he died he terrorized a whole nation. May we never see his like again.

Recycled too many times on nairaland,
Una no get news again?

I remember the movie Okochi. Nkem Owoh and Chinwetalu Agu are two mad men aswear.

Creamypie:
khai. Somebody wey them born when I don finish sec school has arrived. B4 2000/2001, for east, it was under daylight seige of dare devil robbers, ritualists, bym4 governor mbadinuju inaugurated bakassi boys. It was fire for fire. Bullet for bullet in every nooknsnd cranny of Anambra between bakkassi and criminals. An in I Lawrence, ofeghe,Monday osunbor group in mid 1980s were the koko of robbery. They terrorized Nigeria. Babangida even declared emergency. He was finally caught and executed, along with his gang, in 1987. B4 1999, armed robbers and murderers were publicly executed by millitary

These days, this set of evil politicians have refused to sign death warrants because they know that they can use them later in the future to rig themselves into offices.

Derico Nwamama that year, how times fly, A movie was made in his name

May his soul rest in peace
You yourself
Are you not wicked?