₦airaland Forum

S
MALL things matter, but little attention is always paid to small matter. When Kingsley Eweka, a prince of Benin was about to be shot for armed robbery in mid 1986, he craned his neck on the stake to tell those asking If he had anything to say: “My friend and his boys will avenge my death!” A smile slipped out the cheeks of the questioners: no one knew his friend, and no one wanted to know. It was a matter for laughter, and since they could not laugh, they sneered. But soon, everyone knew Kingsley’s friend in Bendel State of Nigeria.

Yes, Bendel State. There was once a state in Nigeria called Bendel. It was the old Benin and Delta provinces of Western region that was merged on 8 August, 1963 to become Midwestern State, and was changed to Bendel State on 17 March, 1976, That was its name until 27 August, 1991 when it was divided into two: one part named Edo, and the other now called Delta. But in 1986,, it was Bendel, and this was where Kingsley’s friend took his revenge.

The friend was a young man called Lawerence Anini. He was born in 1960 to the family of Owuo quarters in Orogbo village, Orhionmwon area of the state. He was brought to Benin as a toddler where he attended Oza Primary School, and was a known truant while in the School. All the same, he completed the school and got admission to Igiedumu Secondary School. He was there for three years before he abandoned it in about 1976 and started learning how to repair motor vehicles. But he spent only three months in the mechanic workshop.

What happened was that one day, he was caught in the act when he stole N7 belonging to one of his mates in the garage. When he was seen with the money, he said the money was given to him by his mother to buy drugs for her, but when David Isiokherhe, the master of the shop, threatened that “Juju” would be brought to get the money, he confessed that he indeed stole the money. Immediate search revealed that he had spent N2 out of the money, in less than an hour. He was summarily dismissed.
When he would be seen later, he had become a lorry driver, even when he was not 18 years old, but very popular, though, because of his expertise on the steering. He was doing this until politics started in 1979 and he became a full-time party thug, reaping bountifully from hooliganism. It was while in this new profession he learnt the use of firearms and quickly became the leader of many of the boys. They gave him another name “Ovbigbo the law”.

So it became easy to switch to armed robbery when politics was banned in early n1984. Business was booming, and he was notorious for reckless spending. Here he met Kingsley, and they became partner in crime. They were both friendly with the police too, and that was why he could not allow his friend to die in vain. Sometime in July 1986, he started the war with the Police, and by August, the Police too began a counter attack.

Two months later, the Police offensive in Benin City against the prevailing mafia –style armed robbery ran, on the night of October 1 to a sudden, explosive climax of gun fire and blood. At about 9pm and about a hundred meters away from a police road block along Ring Road in the heart of the ancient city, rapid gun shots obviously from superior weaponry, broke the eerie calmness of the night.

Just like a textbook replay of any of the deadly efficient attacks of Italy Red Brigade, the notorious terrorist guerrilla group of the late 70s and like the Red Brigade’s victims, who were invariably the cream of the Italian society, the victims of the Benin shoot-out included Commissioner of Police. Yes, the Police Chief was shot!
He paid dearly for the attack as his bullet- ridden private car, a new Peugeot 504 station wagon, wobbled to a halt, a bullet tore though the ridge of his nose. Even so, Akagbosu was two times lucky. Police sources said that the first volley of shot jolted him into a reflex action; he jerked his face sideways from its previous straight forward position to ascertain the direction of the attack. This unconscious act was all the insurance he needed against a fatal tragedy because his head, then turned at a sharp angle, was inches off the course of the bullet aimed at it.

Akagbosu’s second luck came in another stroke of circumstance. Seated in the middle compartment of the station wagon, he was sandwiched between two of his aides, one Sergeant Ojo and Corporal Ogbe Zecharaiah. All other shots which zipped in Akagbosu direction were received in the limbs and hips by Ojo and Zecharaiah who involuntarily acted as their boss shock absorbers.
For Constable Paulinius Oweh, who was behind the wheel there was no shield against the salvo of shots. Hit in the head, he slumped in his driver’s seat, staining it crimson as blood gushed out of him. An unidentified mobile policeman, who shared the front seat with Oweh, was miraculously untouched.

The Police Commissioner’s entourage, though armed, simply had no chance against their hard-hitting assailants. Caught completely unawares, they were mere sitting ducks for Anini and his boys.

Earlier in the day, the Police Chief had received an informant in his office who claimed to have a clue to how Lawrence Anini, Benin City’s terrorist – lord of the underworld could be found. Akagbosu was immediately interested. Together with four of his trusted aides, he went to town late in the evening, accompanied by the informant who was said to have showed him Anini’s den.

Akagbosu dropped his informant at home and with the other policemen in his entourage, set for visit to a Reverend Father friend of his, Monsignor Joseph Omesa of Holy Cross Catholic Church, Mission Road, Benin. The visit was a brief one, but on his way home, the police chief wanted to take one more look at Anini’s hideout. His inquisitiveness came to an abrupt end with the first report of shots. A bitter irony- Akagbosu, the hunter, became the hunted.

If I can relate this news to GEJ comments after
Mandela died..."Nigeria polictians love to play
God.." he was defintely referring to OBJ.
GEJ.. the truth is what OBJ said about you is 100%
correct but the problem is that if OBJ should
mirror himself with these revelation, he too is
75-85% guilty especially on regime elongation.
May the almighty God allow the political class and
leaders fight one another to extent of eliminating
each other. Evil men and women.. you will soon
all die tragically.

cool

I hope this would revive his rap career

My friend was affected too! It's rather unfortunate that things like this still happen in our developing country. I guess It's The nigerian factor

end time tins

What a great man ! Rest in peace

.

As soon As The dialogue begins, all exploration rights,mining concessions and ownership of oil blocks must be revoked. And fresh negotiations would be decided. You cannot have alh. dantata owning oil blocks in The creeks, it is against federal character. They would also decide on demilitarised zones close to The borders And free trade areas, afterall we Are all brothers, aren't we?

alienware: what is this one saying ? All the resources found within Nigerian belongs to each an everyone of us.

as Your region doesn't contribute anything, What do we gain from you? Noise?

h

[quote author=ndu_chucks]I will commit my resources towards going 'our seperate ways' as soon as bright minds can proffer viable solutions to these issues:

1) How do we share the assets jointly owned without bloodshed. Assets like seaports, airports, investments in developing natural resources?

I invite brilliant minds to list potential solutions to this problem. I have more but let's start with this.

It is not enough to lazily yell separation without any framework which wouldn't lead to unnecessary violence. I humbly await reasonable contributions.[/quote]if the country divides today, iT is Very possible that host states would lay claims to the assets present in their states especially fixed assets like ports ! An equitable means would have been to analyse the source of the revenue with Which the assets were acquired, then they would be shared on a pro-rata basis. For example, assets acquired in the pre-crude era, would most probably be have been gotten with proceeds from agriculture and mining sectors, So there's is nothing wrong in pushing these things things to those agro centres, it would particularly be possible For movable infrastructure. We would also have to pay attention to depreciation of these assets over time and there would be compensation. Military equipment, vessels, technology could be shared this way. Then For assets acquired in the oil era, the oil producing Areas would receive preference before others, because the advent of oil heralded the death of other sectors. The only exception would be lagos, due to The monies accrued from import duties and tariffs. This is just one option, more to follow...

olala32: are u sure u r frm ND?NO OFFENCE PLS!

of course! I dont support militancy in any guise, but asari and his likes brought a certain level of awareness to the underdevelopment issue, and the backdoor settlements they were paid were used For acquiring personal assets. Instead of being foolish and training the hausa, he should sponsor his brothers over here in the creeks. When the niger-deltan is educated, he Can boldly that he must be employed in top positions in oil and gas corps and their allied services, and nobody would argue, as they produce the oil that powers the economy

ajilay: Mr asari dokubo you are a man of integrity,so please do it right.enough of all this insurgency.

the multi nationals have sponsored corruption and insurgency in a greater measure! Instead of developing host communities, they prefer to give a fraction of the money to these executive thugs, When they know that these guys would never buy a shovel, let alone repair roads or construct creek shelters. Even if the country divides today, the south doesn't have any credible administrator, as we Are all rogues and have been implicated in the corruption game! asari is a Very smart guy, But he has no influence on insurgency because he has sold himself out, he now speak For his pockets.

Bottom line is that he's a thief too, just like ibori, odili, lucky, tompolo and the others.. He made his money from illegal bunkering and amnesty grants! We south-southerners do not need these guys as they've failed us ! Nigeria must divide, and May thunder rip open anybody linking us with biafra! South-South is not biafra, we already have enough thieves, gays and traitors here

He's blessed

wazzar: nobody is trying to compare money with flower don't you read the topic well abi na true u be albino

Why does everyone almost doubt dat he's an albino??

skoloppy31: men are just polygamous in nature, na only widow that can say exactly where her hubby they

on point!

fr3do: Does she have a name?

just call her 'boo'

The average nigerian lady wouldn't appreciate flowers, except it sprouts money! I think cash, dinner and sex would do just fine

I couldn't read through the junk, could someone plz summarise?

What Can we do to help him ?

She's okay

In benin, it is a taboo For women to urinate within the compound. They are required to go outside the compound.

Isn't it surprising that pdp are the ones telling us about their widow endowment programme, we should at least know some recipients... Dan orbih is the biggest clown edo state has seen in recent times. Dey should give the woman the money, afterall it's our money that lucky and osunbor squandered.. Pdp doesn't have a selling point, apc's selling point is oshiomhole! Pdp politicians even go as far as sharing bags of rice during festivities, Are You trying to buy votes ? This country needs intellectual and purposeful opposition, not foul old men who take every opportunity to politicize every single occurrence including bad weather

stagger: You are a bagger for saying all this rubbish. If I saw you face to face I will ask my boys to beat sense into you because if I handle you myself you will die.

I have lived in Benin, old Benin to be exact. There is no amount of cleaning up of a city that will substitute for treating a human being (a widow for that matter) with dignity.

How can you even make a comparison between a widower in a patriarchal society like Nigeria who is in charge of state power, to a helpless widow on the street who was shedding tears of agony at her livelihood being taken away?

Oshiomhole should remember what the bible said about widows: God becomes their husband. That bastard comrade governor will be met with judgement by God, mark my words.

I'm glad that we cant see face to face so Your ' boys' wouldn't beat me up! If You Are annoyed because your mum is a street hawker, I understand.. We've seen more important fools die, you're just one extra leech in the gutter! You're not untrackable and untouchable

stagger: You are a bagger for saying all this rubbish. If I saw you face to face I will ask my boys to beat sense into you because if I handle you myself you will die.

I have lived in Benin, old Benin to be exact. There is no amount of cleaning up of a city that will substitute for treating a human being (a widow for that matter) with dignity.

How can you even make a comparison between a widower in a patriarchal society like Nigeria who is in charge of state power, to a helpless widow on the street who was shedding tears of agony at her livelihood being taken away?

Oshiomhole should remember what the bible said about widows: God becomes their husband. That bastard comrade governor will be met with judgement by God, mark my words.

I'm glad that we cant see face to face so Your ' boys' wouldn't beat me up! If You Are annoyed because your mum is a street hawker, I understand.. We've seen more important fools die, you're just one extra leech in the gutter! You're not untrackable and untouchable

Many people attacking him have never been to benin city. During lucky igbinedion's regime, The state was dirty, corrupt, unruly and murderous. Igbinedion did not complete even one capital project on his own. Adams comes in, begins massive construction and rehabilitation of roads and structures. He constructed roads leading to those rural areas, even in the opposition held edo central.. When elections come What happens? These same edo central people massively vote pdp, just because they want their son to be governor.. All These development came at a cost... He banned roadside trading, illegal car parking, roadside touting and heavy taxation. The taxes are used to fund The constructions, since lucky and his pdp thugs left The state in penury. The people began to complain about tax, even When they could see development like street lights, double traffic lights on every major road, and benin has one of The largest number of roads and adjoining streets in The country.. The beautification of ring road and The linking roads was being undone by The same people he was working for. Bus drivers would reverse on top of kerbs and destroy The potted flowers, these stupid hawkers would hawk their wares and throw The garbage into The newly constructed drains, I even had to confront a woman who was disposing corn cobs into The drains.. The governor finally outlawed road side trading and car parking... If You go to ringroad as I speak, you'd still see these hawkers selling rice and foodstuff just by The road, is this right? Would You have prefered that The woman be locked up? These are The same people that Would come out tomorrow and vote pdp, just because of tribal issues.. Being a widow doesn't permit You to break laws. Oshiomhole also has his shortcomings, his traffic police have become more of a nuisance than The opposition party, he should put a leash on those goons. The man has tried, he also solved The perennial flooding by constructing a central water channel ' storm water project'... Did lucky do all these ? So When I see people come here to abuse a Good man, It hurts me.. Because we voted for him, we protested and rioted for him, we marched under The sun to attend tribunal sittings, some of us even died in The struggle! When I was still in The country, we saw his works and appreciated them, please do same. Long live nigeria

Many people attacking him have never been to benin city. During lucky igbinedion's regime, The state was dirty, corrupt, unruly and murderous. Igbinedion did not complete even one capital project on his own. Adams comes in, begins massive construction and rehabilitation of roads and structures. He constructed roads leading to those rural areas, even in the opposition held edo central.. When elections come What happens? These same edo central people massively vote pdp, just because they want their son to be governor.. All These development came at a cost... He banned roadside trading, illegal car parking, roadside touting and heavy taxation. The taxes are used to fund The constructions, since lucky and his pdp thugs left The state in penury. The people began to complain about tax, even When they could see development like street lights, double traffic lights on every major road, and benin has one of The largest number of roads and adjoining streets in The country.. The beautification of ring road and The linking roads was being undone by The same people he was working for. Bus drivers would reverse on top of kerbs and destroy The potted flowers, these stupid hawkers would hawk their wares and throw The garbage into The newly constructed drains, I even had to confront a woman who was disposing corn cobs into The drains.. The governor finally outlawed road side trading and car parking... If You go to ringroad as I speak, you'd still see these hawkers selling rice and foodstuff just by The road, is this right? Would You have prefered that The woman be locked up? These are The same people that Would come out tomorrow and vote pdp, just because of tribal issues.. Being a widow doesn't permit You to break laws. Oshiomhole also has his shortcomings, his traffic police have become more of a nuisance than The opposition party, he should put a leash on those goons. The man has tried, he also solved The perennial flooding by constructing a central water channel ' storm water project'... Did lucky do all these ? So When I see people come here to abuse a Good man, It hurts me.. Because we voted for him, we protested and rioted for him, we marched under The sun to attend tribunal sittings, some of us even died in The struggle! When I was still in The country, we saw his works and appreciated them, please do same. For those who do not know, oshiomhole is a widower ! ! Long live nigeria