21/09/2022
Anini The Law!! The Reign Of An Armed Robber
Lawrence NomanyagÂbon Anini, Nigeriaâs most notorious armed robber, was born someÂtime in 1960. He terrorised the old Bendel State, especially its capital, Benin City in the 1980s. By 1986, his robbery exploits had reached such a terrible level that it became a national issue. He opÂerated along with his lieutenant, Monday Osunbor, and others. However, one striking feature in the Anini reign of terror was police complicity. It was soon disÂcovered that the Anini gang had insiders within the Police hierarÂchy. George Iyamu, a Deputy SuÂperintendent of Police, was their arrowhead.
Anini, dreadfully called âThe Lawâ or âOvbigboâ, was born in a village about 20 miles from BeÂnin City. He migrated to Benin at an early age, learned to drive and became a skilled taxi driver within a few years. He became known in Benin motor parks as a man who could control the varÂied competing interests among motor park touts and operators. He later took to criminal acts in the city and soon became a driver and transporter for gangs, criminal godfathers and thieves. Soon after, he decided to create his own gang. They started out as car hijackers, bus robbers and bank thieves. Gradually, he exÂtended his criminal acts to other towns and cities far north and east of Benin.
The complicity of the police is believed to have enhanced Aniniâs reign of terror in 1986. Early that year, two members of his gang were prosecuted over an earlier under-the-table âagreeÂmentâ with the Police to destroy evidence against the gang memÂbers. The incident, and Aniniâs view of Police betrayal, is beÂlieved to have spurred retaliatory actions by Anini. In August, 1986, a bank robbery linked to Anini was reported in which a police ofÂficer and others were killed. That same month, two officers on duty were shot at a barricade while trying to stop Aniniâs car. During a span of three months, he was known to have killed nine police officers.
In an operation in August of 1986, the Anini team struck at First Bank, Sabongida-Ora, where they carted away N2, 000. But although the amount stoÂlen was seen as chicken feed, they left the scene with a trail of blood. Many persons were killed.
On September 6, same year, the Anini gang snatched a PeuÂgeot 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 co**se somewhere. It was not until three months later that the skeleton of the driver was spotted 16 kilometers away from Benin, along the Benin-AgÂbor highway. A day after this atÂtack, 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, Aniniâs men killed two policemen in OrhioÂwon Local Government of the state. Still in that month, three different robbery attacks, all pointing to Aniniâs 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 charÂtered accountant, and the stealÂing of the Mercedes Benz car in Benin, of the Ughelli monarch, the Ovie.
Before September 1986 drew to a close, Anini, now an elusive dread, struck at a gas station along Wire Road, Benin, where he stole a substantial part of the dayâs sales. He shot the Stationâs attendant and gleefully started spraying his b***y along the road for people to pick.
The height of Aniniâs exploits, however, took place on October 1, 1986, the Independence Day when the stateâs Commissioner of Police, Casmir Igbokwe was ambushed by the gang in Benin, followed by a hail of bullets. The police boss survived the attack with serious injuries. Earlier that day also, the Anini men had gunned down a police man withÂin the city
Also, on October 21 of same year, the Anini gang terminated the life of a Benin-based mediÂcal doctor, A.O Emojeve. They gunned him down along Textile Mill Road, in Benin. Not done, Anini and his gang went and robbed the Agbor branch of the African Continental Bank and carted away about N46, 000. A day after the operation, Anini, The Law, turned to a âFather Christmasâ as he threw wads of naira on the ground for market men and women to pick at a vilÂlage near Benin.
Aniniâs image thus loomed larger than life, dwarfing those of Ishola Oyenusi, the king of robbers in the 1970s and Youpelle Dakuro, the army deserter who masterminded the most vicious daylight robbery in Lagos in 1978, in which two policemen were killed. Anini spear-headed a four-month reign of terror between August and December 1986. He also reportedly wrote numerous letters to media housÂes using political tones of Robin Hood to describe his criminal acts.
Worried by the seeming eluÂsiveness of Anini and his gang members, the military PresiÂdent, General Ibrahim BabanÂgida then ordered a massive manhunt for the kingpin and his fellow robbers. The police thus went after them; combed every part of Bendel State 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, âMy friend, where is Anini?â. At about this time, Nigerian newspapers and journals were also publishÂing various reports and editoriÂals on the âAnini Challengeâ, the âAnini Sagaâ, the âAnini Factorâ, âLawrence Anini â the Man, the Mythâ, âAnini, Jack the Ripperâ, and âLawrence Anini: A Robin Hood in Bendelâ. The Guardian asked, emphatically, in one of its reports: âWill they ever find AniÂni, âThe Lawâ?â
His arrest
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, OyemÂwosa 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 underÂpants, opened the door. âWhere is Anini,â 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. âOh, Anini is under the bed in the inner roomâ. 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 AnÂiniâs 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 sevÂered the ankle from his entire leg. Already, anguished by the exÂcruciating pains, the policemen asked him, âAre you Anini?â And he replied, âMy brother, I wonât deceive you; I wonât tell you lie, Iâm Anini.â He was from there taken to the police command headquarters where the stateâs Police Commissioner, Parry Osayande, was waiting. While in the police net, Anini who had poor command of English and could only communicate in pidÂgin, made a whole lot of revelaÂtions. He disclosed, for instance that Osunbor, who had been arÂrested earlier, was his deputy, saying that Osunbor actually shot and wounded the former poÂlice boss of the state, Akagbosu
Anini was shot in the leg, transferred to a military hospiÂtal, and had one of his legs amÂputated. When Aniniâs hideout was searched, police recovered assorted charms, including the one he usually wore around his waist during âoperationsâ. It was instructive that after Anini was captured and dispossessed of his charms, the man who terrorÂized a whole state and who was supposed to be fearless suddenly became remorseful, making conÂfessions. This was against public expectation of a daredevil hoodÂlum who would remain defiant to the very end.
Shortly after the arrest of Anini and co, the dare-devil robÂbers began to revealthe roles played by key police officers and men, in the aiding and abetting of criminals in Bendel State and the entire country. Anini particuÂlarly revealed that Iyamu, who was the most senior police offiÂcer shielding the robbers, would reveal police secrets to them and then, give them logistical supÂports 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 AsÂsistant Inspector-General of PoÂlice in charge of Intelligence and Investigation. But Iyamu was later to be disappointed as the assailants dispatched to elimiÂnate Omeben were only able to kill his driver, Otue, a sergeant. Iyamu, whom the robbers fondly referred to as âBabaâ, reportedly had choice buildings in Benin City; proof of how he invested the loot he obtained from men of the underworld.
Due to the 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 furiÂously retorted, âYou are a shameÂless liar!â Anini had accused him before Justice James Omo-Agege in the High Court of Justice in Benin City. Of the 10 police offiÂcers Anini implicated, five were convicted. The robbery suspects, including Iyamu, were sentenced to death. But in passing his judgement, Justice Omo-Agege remarked, âAnini will forever be remembered in the history of crime in this country, but it would be of unblessed memory. Few people if ever, would give the name to their children.â Their ex*****on took place on March 29, 1987.
By YAZKID TV MEDIA
