*Life and Death of Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robber
Read the story of Nigeria’s most notorious armed robber in the 80s who
was dreaded by the police as he was said to have killed and robbed
massively at will, thereby becoming a national threat.
Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini, was one of Nigeria’s most notorious armed
robbers who held sway in the old Bendel State (Now Edo and Delta
States).
His reign in the 80s was so bloody that he was even discussed at the State Security Council meeting.
Anini was executed on March 29, 1987, after his conviction by a Benin High Court for armed robbery.
Anini was born in 1960 in a village about 20 miles from Benin City,
present day Edo State. Dreadfully called 'The Law' or 'Ovbigbo', he
migrated to Benin at an early age, learned to drive and became a skilled
taxi driver.
He became known in Benin motor parks as a man who could control the
varied competing interests among motor park touts and operators. He
later delved into the criminal business in the city and soon became a
driver and transporter for gangs, criminal godfathers and thieves.
Later on, he decided to create his own gang which include, Monday
Osunbor, Ofege, and others, and they started out as car hijackers, bus
robbers and bank thieves. Gradually, he extended his criminal acts to
other towns and cities far north and east of Benin.
The complicity of the police is believed to have triggered Anini’s reign
of terror in 1986. 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.
It was not until three months later that 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, The Law, turned to a ‘Father
Christmas’ as he strew wads of naira notes on the ground for free pick
by market men and women at a village near Benin.
Anini thus spear-headed a four-month reign of terror between August and
December 1986. Anini also reportedly wrote numerous letters to media
houses using political tones of Robin Hood-like words, to describe his
criminal acts.
My friend, where is Anini?
Worried by the seeming elusiveness of Anini and his gang members, the
then military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, 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. 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, ‘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
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, 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 whole 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.
Anini was shot in the leg, transferred to a military hospital, and had
one of his legs amputated. When Anini’s hideout was searched, police
recovered assorted charms, including the one he usually wore around his
waist during “operations”.
It was instructive that after Anini was captured and dispossessed of his
charms, the man who terrorised a whole state and who was supposed to be
fearless suddenly became remorseful, making confessions. This was
against public expectation of a daredevil hoodlum who would remain
defiant to the very end.
Shortly after the arrest of Anini and co, the dare-devil robbers began
to squeal, revealing the roles played by key police officers and men, in
the aiding and abetting of criminals 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.
Trial and 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.
