Nigeria has recorded two types of armed robbers: Lawrence Nomanyagbon
Anini and others. No armed robber has ever held the entire country on
ransom as Anini. In fact, his reign was so bloody that he was even
discussed at the State Security Council meeting. He held the old Bendel
State captive in the 1980s. Bendel is now known as Edo and Delta State.
His main area of operation was Benin City to be precise. His early life
Anini was born in a village about 20 miles from Benin City in
present-day Edo State.He was dreadfully called ‘
The Law’ or ‘Ovbigbo’. 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. He started work as a lorry driver (some say
taxi driver) after his master fired him and slowly transformed into a
leader of the local motor parks, controlling and commanding touts.
Following the sudden overthrow of the politicians in the early 1980s and
banning of politics in 1984 by the Buhari regime the highly-skilled
driver (now of of criminal gangs and godfathers) discovered that armed
robbery was far more lucrative and decided to form his own deadly gang
which included, Monday Osunbor, Friday Ofege, Henry Ekponwan, Eweka and
Alhaji zed zed or Zegezege who was never captured.They started out as
car hijackers, bus robbers and bank thieves. He sealed a pact with
corrupt police officers and ruled with reckless abandon. The complicity
of the police is believed to have triggered Anini’s reign of terror in
1986.Highway robberies, car j******s, bank raids, Anini was a specialist
in all aspects of pilfering with the gun. Gradually, he extended his
criminal acts to other towns and cities far north and east of Benin. 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, a fatal bank
robbery linked to Anini was reported 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 of 1986, the Anini team struck at First Bank,
Sabongida-Ora, where they carted away N2, 000. But although the amount
stolen 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 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.
Three months later, the skeleton of the driver was spotted 16 kilometers
away from Benin, 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 Area of the state. Still in that month, three different
robbery attacks, all pointing to Anini’s involvement, took place. A day
after the operation, Anini, visited a village near Benin and threw wads
of naira notes on the ground for free pick by market men and women.
Between August and December 1986, he led a four-month reign of terror.
He also reportedly wrote numerous letters to media houses using
political tones of Robin Hood-like words, to describe his criminal acts.
The search for Anini.
The then military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, saw the
nation’s fear for the daredevil and ordered a massive manhunt for the
kingpin and his fellow robbers. The police thus went after them, combing
every part of Bendel State where they were reportedly operating and
living However, 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. 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”?’ His arrest
The Anini terrror finally came to an end thanks to the courage of
Superintendent of Police, Kayode Uanreroro. 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.” While in the police net, Anini who had poor command of English
and could only communicate in pidgin, made a wh*** 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.
The daredevil robbers also revealed that some policemen assisted them
in the criminal operations in Bendel State and the entire country.
Anini particularly revealed that George 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. Because of the numerous gunshots, Anini had one of
his legs amputated in a military hospital. When his hideout was
searched, police recovered assorted charms, including the one he usually
wore around his waist during “operations”. All charms were disposed
after his arrest.
His execution Due to amputation of his leg, Anini was confined to a
wheelchair throughout his trial. He was sentenced to death by Justice
James Omo-Agege and executed on March 29, 1987.
Culled from Vangard online
