It seems the bad old days are back on Lagos roads, as the city recently applauded for its relative safety from crimes, seems to be receding fast. Gboyega Alaka reports.
Some fifteen odd years ago, Tunji Bello, the current Secretary to the Lagos State Government, had a most scary experience in the perennial Lagos traffic. He was on his way to work at the Thisday Newspaper office in Apapa, where he was a member of the editorial Board, when a certain young man, loitering in the traffic popped out a gun and ordered his driver to wind down in an obvious robbery attempt. But rather than comply, stories had it that his driver decided to play a movie hero, and instead stepped on the acceleration pedal and tried to maneuver his way through the thick traffic. Seeing that it was an effort in futility and one that might cost them their lives, Bello ordered his driver to stop and they promptly complied with the gunman’s request.
The gunman made away with cash, a heavy suitcase of papers and valuables, but at least the now high-profile public officer had his life intact and is forging on.
In another horrifying case, Toyosi Johnson, then a reporter with a leading glossy lifestyle magazine was driving back home on the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge, when she was attacked a gun-toting robber. She had just learnt to drive, having only recently bought her Opel car and couldn’t have attempted any stunt, as the gruff-looking guy pretending to be selling in the long traffic, popped a short pistol at her. Scared stiff, she handed over her bag, her phones and virtually every valuable object around her. Not satisfied, her assailant ordered her to pull up her blouse, so he could see her plum laps and undies, to which Toyosi immediately complied. One could only imagine how far the robber would have gone if it wasn’t for broad daylight and the moving traffic. The above incident took place about ten years ago.
At the old Oshodi end of Lagos, before the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola liberated the area and made a thoroughfare out of its old gridlock, stories abound of broad daylight and early evening robberies. In fact, it became foolhardy for any Lagosian with his senses intact to attempt driving through the Oshodi-Isale end of the Agege-Motor Road in the early evening, much less in the late evening, because often, they get chastised and blamed, rather than pitied for any misfortune that befell them. A passenger in a public bus once narrated a story of how he was robbed in traffic, right under the Oshodi flyover and how when he finally got to a police point further down the road and complained, hoping for some action or pacification, only to hear the officers on duty telling him “Oga, why you self go pass Oshodi for night?”
Deadly dangerous
If the victims in the above instances were lucky, a middle-aged woman, Clementina Saduwa, who was a manager at one of the Ericson Lagos offices, was not so lucky a few years back. Her assailants, who had laid siege at the gallop spot right at the Leventis end of the Eko Bridge around 8pm in February 2007, pounced on her and gruesomely shot her dead, in what many initially thought was a case of paid assassination. A member of the gang of five that attacked her car, wasted no time in shooting Saduwa dead, as she struggled to explain that she had no money on her, while her driver escaped narrowly. The story heard it that the robbers had laid in wait at the end of the bridge, knowing fully well that vehicles inevitably slowed down at that spot.
Lagosians would however learn four months later, when the police cracked the gang, that it was indeed a case of traffic robbery and not assassination.
Saduwa’s case was highly publicised because the media latched onto it, but there are several others that never made media headlines, but which were equally gruesome. Some have escaped with bullet wounds, while those who have been fortunate narrowly escaped the criminals’ bullets, but not without serious emotional trauma.
That incident also caused the Lagos State government to smoothen out the bump on that end of the bridge and ensure smoother and faster drive through the hitherto dangerous spot for motorists.
The safe era
Aside cases of robberies in traffic, Lagos had always lived with its share of outright armed robberies and car-snatching at gunpoint on highways; but these dropped significantly at the onset of Governor Babatunde Fashola’s regime in the state and especially during the tenure of the erstwhile Inspector-General of Police, MD Abubakar, then Commissioner of Police in the state. Many would recall also that probably due to the state government’s doubled effort on security, made largely possible by the Lagos Security Trust Fund, the police were duly equipped and motivated, such that even visitors testified to the strategic positioning of the police at suspicious locations in the state, leading to a relative peace, hitherto alien to the commercial city.
Night life gradually returned and businessmen could afford to stay out late at night, holding business meetings and dinners and confident that they would still get home in peace.
Olaseni Ayinde, a Lagos Businessman who relocated from the UK to Lagos around 2010 recalls that he was surprised to see that his business partners confidently stayed out late into the night, whenever business so required, and not a single case of violence or robbery was recorded.
The state also received positive reviews on safety. According to a report released by travelstartblog, an online tourist sight in February 2014, Lagos remained the safest city in Nigeria in recent memory, coming first on a list of top 10 Safest Nigerian cities. And that was despite its over 20 million population and dense business concentration.
According to the site, “The state government spends huge sum on its security, providing well-equipped response and different security units around the city. Thousands of tourists and visitors visit the city every year and they appear to be at ease anytime they are around. It has low crime rate, no religious crisis, wonderful parks, environmental supporters and friendly people.”
The city fondly dubbed ‘city of aquatic splendour’ by its inhabitants and visitors, also made it on the site’s list of Top 15 Safest cities on the African continent, coming in on a comfortable tenth position.
Bankole Johnson, who used to work on Lagos Island, put that achievement at the feet of a well-funded, well-motivated and organized police command. He recalled how a few years ago, armed policemen used to be stationed on the Iyana-oworo exit of the 3rd Mainland Bridge during the evening rush hours, right into the night. He said “That gave road users a sense of safety and immediately eliminated all cases of traffic robbery, which that part of the city had become notorious for. I do not know if that pattern still plays out as we speak, because I no longer work on the Island, but I can tell you that it is just what we need in Lagos, and it will be nice if the police can replicate that strategy in other crime hot-spots.”
It was therefore no surprise that Lagos continued to attract investments from foreign interests despite the unsavoury reputation of insecurity been fostered on Nigeria as a whole by the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northern part of the country, kidnappers in the Niger-Delta Region and numerous ethnic clashes in the North-Central and other parts of the country.
Even Nigerians from other troubled parts of the country trouped into the city in droves, in search of prosperity and peace of mind.
Turn of event
Unfortunately this situation seems to be changing for the negative, much to the chagrin of the state’s citizenry and its government that has invested so much towards its low crime rate and safety.
More recently, reports of gun-point robberies and phones and other valuables-snatching incidents in traffic have been on the rise in the city, bringing back, as it were, a preferably forgotten past. Hardly does a day go by these days without one case of robbery occurring in one heavy traffic spots of the state or more, or all. Some of the emerging crime hot-spots according to our investigations include Oshodi-oke, Oshodi-isale, Mile-2 Oke, Mile-2-Isale, the Badagry Expressway currently under construction, right through maza-maza, through to the Agboju-Amuwo end, the Ketu-Mile 12 traffic, the Olopomeji entrance to the 3rd Mainland Bridge, and the Apongbon end of the Eko Bridge.
The Apogbon end of the Eko Bridge seems to have become the hottest spot for crime in the city, with horrifying stories emerging on a daily basis. Just last Wednesday, a Lagos motorist narrated on a popular blogsite the unfortunate story of how his car was brazenly attacked and its occupants that included himself and his sister were robbed just about 9pm.
Wrote the victim: “This evening, around 9pm, myself and my sister were robbed on Apongbon Bridge in traffic. The robbers didn’t even give us a chance to wind down the mirrors. They just broke the glass with all of us in it and dragged out our bags.
“It’s unfortunate that in a country like this, with all the news every day from a common spot that there is robbery ever day, nothing has been done about it. Hopefully, one day, something would be done to protect our lives n property.”
During the past week, a popular television channel did a special news package on the rising incidents of brazen robberies on the Badagry Expressway, complete with interviews. The motorists and commuters raised their voices against what they say has become a daily occurrence, with nearly everyone falling victim at one time or the other. They therefore called on the Lagos State government to speed up the ongoing reconstruction, while also appealing to the police and other security officers to live up to their responsibility and protect Nigerians on the road.
A young man, Uche, who spoke to this reporter, said the situation has become such that everyone going down the other end of Lagos between Mazamaza, Agboju and Iyana-Iba would prefer to cross over before dusk. “We always want to close early from our shop before it gets dark, because these boys become more deadly at night, and there are hardly any police or soldier around to fend them off.”
He called on the government to pay more attention to the safety of the people on that axis by deploring police and even soldiers to the road, saying ‘It is not only Boko haram that needs government’s attention. Even dangerous criminals like the ones we’re talking about need to be attended to.”
At Mile 2 Oke, a newspaper vendor told this reporter how the area, right down to Alaba Express have become a regular spot for traffic robberies. He said this normally takes place at the early hours of the morning, when Lagosians are struggling to beat the nasty traffic on that axis of the road to get to work, or in the late evenings, when it has become dark. He said he knows this because “Usually in the morning, we see people who had been robbed either in the night or ealier in the morning, coming to look around to see if they could recover their vital documents that might have been dumped by the roadside after the robbers would have helped themselves to the cash and other things like phones and jewelries, which they could turn to cash.”
According to him, the tanker concentration on the road, which has seemingly locked down the place in traffic is affecting road users and making virtually everybody vulnerable to robbery. And to make matters worse, he laments the fact that the police are hardly around to arrest the situation, wondering what it would cost the police to station its personnel on such dangerous spots.
His story was corroborated by a Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) staff, who said what the guys do is attack a car, force the victims to wind down, rob them of their valuables and cross to the other side of the express. “Usually,” he says “they are so fast that within two minutes, they’re gone.”
He also says “They usually scare the victims stiff (probably with a gun or knife) such that we only hear of the robberies when the assailants have crossed to the other side and gone.”
Curiously, a banana hawker on the other (Orile) side of the bridge however said he could not remember any case of robbery in recent time. Pointing to an empty police shed by a triangular spot, as one ascends the bridge, he said robberies no longer happen on that side of the bridge, since the police started posting officers to the spot.
3rd Mainland, Safe as Aso Rock
A visit to the Iyana-oworo end of the 3rd Mainland Bridge however revealed an impressive scenario that keeps one wondering why the same police cannot adopt the same strategy to police the other parts of the city. A LASTMA official stationed at the Iyana-Oworo Bus stop said there are no incidents of robberies on that end of the bridge. He actually said “It is near impossible for robberies to happen here, because as soon as it is early evening around 4-5pm, you see fully armed eagle-eyed Rapid Response Police team taking positions on the bridge. Usually, you see one at every 100-metre radius, as you approach the end of the bridge and I tell you, it will be suicidal for anyone to try anything funny under that situation.”
He said if in truth traffic robberies is on the rise in the city, it has to be in other areas and said “probably the guys who used to operate here relocated.”
A groundnut seller also corroborated his story. Although, he says he does not hawk on the bridge, he said he hasn’t heard of any case of robbery on that bridge in recent time.
Another gentleman, an Ice cream vendor however said the only robberies that occur now are pick-pockets, who usually operate in the BRT buses.
Another LASTMA officer, still at Iyana-oworo bus stop however said the only cases of robberies that occur in the area are on the other side of the highway, near the Olopomeji axis, as motorists ascend the 3rd Mainland Bridge in the early morning hours. He said this is usually perpetrated by hoodlums who take advantage of the fact that there are no policemen on the road in those early hours to rob motorists of their money and other valuables. He pointed accusing fingers at neighbourhoods like Oworo, Bariga and Gbagada as the hideouts of the hoodlums and implored the police to extend their operations to those hours.
One respondent, John Babatunde, who said he had been a victim of traffic robbery once, said the first thing the government and police need to do is ban hawking and any kind of loitering in the middle of traffic on highways outrightly. He said that stemmed from his own experience. “I was driving along Pako bus stop on Okota Road, a few years back, when someone tapped my car on the drivers’ side. As I turned to take a look at what the matter was, another guy, whom I had noticed earlier but didn’t pay any serious attention to, quickly reached for my phone and made away with it.” He said this would never have happened if the government totally outlaws loitering and hawking in traffic and station policemen to enforce the law.
He also spoke of a major robbery operation in which a top business executive was disposed of his posh Nissan luxury car just about 8.30pm, almost at the same spot around Pako Bus stop, Okota , as one prepares to link up with the Oke-Afa Road, leading to Ikotun. He however said this took place about five years ago. He said he also learnt that the police retrieved the car the same evening, as the robbers made to take it through Badagry across the border.
Police PRO speaks
Following the avalanche of stories of robberies, it became necessary to seek the opinion the Police. Are they aware of the sudden rise in traffic robberies in the state? What exactly are they doing; or is it a case of shortage of personnel or equipment? The Nation caught up with the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, who confessed that the police is aware and “concerned about a few incidents of a robberies along the traffic gridlock places including Apongbon. Because of that, we have increased the security in those places, Apongbon in particular. If you drive pass those areas recently, you will notice increased number of policemen stationed on the road.”
He said “The idea is to ensure that the area is properly dominated, so that those hoodlums will not have a field day. This strategy is not only restricted to Apongbon, but several other areas identified as crime hot-spots like Ikorodu, Mile-2 axis and co. You would have noticed our policemen on snap checks doing stop and search as they patrol in motorcycles and vehicles.”
Prodded further on what exactly the police are doing, considering that cases continue to emerge, the Police spokesman said “We will not tell you the strategies we have adopted, but I can tell you that all those areas are under serious watch.”
On his advice to Lagosians, he said “Moving forward, we want to assure Lagosians that we have enough policemen on ground, we have our strategies, and we have enough logistics on ground to ensure that they remain safe; but again, we want to advice that anybody who falls victim should please come forward. We need the constant reporting, because the idea is that when we get to know that robberies are happening in certain areas, we move in and map out strategies on how to tackle the area. But what we have noticed is that in such cases, when they attack them, people don’t come forward to make a report. Instead, they complain to you journalists.”
He said although the police don’t have any problem with people reporting to journalists, but that doesn’t solve the problem. It is by reporting to us instantly that we can recover the things that have been stolen. Sometimes last year, there was an incident like that along Mile 2 axis; we received a call and went into action. Some two hours later, we caught the hoodlums and recovered a pistol from them. The same thing happened in Oshodi area and we moved in immediately. The hoodlums abandoned their loots and ran away; and when the victims came to the headquarters, their belongings were handed over to them. That is the importance of reporting; but when they go unreported, the police are not magicians to know what has happened. So as part of your own responsibilities as journalists, please educated them while writing, to always report to the police when these things happen and as soon as they happen. God willing we will keep dominating our areas for the safety of Lagos and Lagosians.”
Regarding what the police is doing about hawkers and people constantly roaming in traffic, Mr Nwosu said “The law on environmental is on now; they are mopping all the street of hawkers. That one is ongoing; it is a comprehensive strategy to rid the state of all these menace.”
