Akintunde Oyebode: Sorrow, tears, and blood (Y! FrontPage)


We drive in traffic on a wing and a prayer; and sleep with an eye open. While a part of the terror we are experiencing will be traced to social issues like rising income inequality and more people falling into the poverty trap, it also suggests a dysfunctional police force.

One of the benefits of growing around my grandparents was listening to an endless flow of; as with most stories told to children, theirs were filled with heroes; people who had done good things and left a legacy of chivalry and selflessness. But my grandfather was fond of telling the occasional villainous story, perhaps to remind me that good and bad people existed in almost equal measure, or to show me the reward of wickedness. One of those stories involved ‘Doctor’ Ishola Oyenusi, the dreaded armed robber who terrorized Lagos in the early 70’s, but was eventually captured and executed in 1973. Two stories about this villain struck me. The first was an account of a robbery on Herbert Macaulay Road, where Oyenusi snatched the first car he saw because his girlfriend was broke. He sold the car for N400 but the owner was shot dead in the process. The second story was about Eddie Ugbomah’s first film, The Rise and Fall of Dr. Oyenusi. The (now famous) director was unable to get anybody to play Oyenusi’s role mainly for fear of retribution from his gang members, so decided to play the part himself.

For as long as I can remember, Nigerians (especially those in Lagos) have been troubled by armed robbers. From Oyenusi to Anini, the names of these dreaded hit men continue to occupy spaces in our collective memory; a reminder of the state’s temporary helplessness as their reigns of crime ruled the town. I was old enough to remember Anini’s infamous reign of terror, which caused a public order from General Ibrahim Babangida, to the Inspector General of Police at the time to produce Anini or lose his job. Of course, Anini, Osunbor, Iyamu and company were eventually captured and publicly executed by firing squad.

Today, we are gradually slipping back to those days. A few months ago, I wrote about Ugo Ozuah, who was killed seven days after he got married. Till date, his killers have not been prosecuted. Several people, including three Front Page columnists, have shared personal stories of robbery attacks in Lagos in the last six months. We drive in traffic on a wing and a prayer; and sleep with an eye open. While a part of the terror we are experiencing will be traced to social issues like rising income inequality and more people falling into the poverty trap, it also suggests a dysfunctional police force. A cursory view of the sizes of police forces globally shows Nigeria does not lag behind the world. Nigeria has approximately 205 police officers per 100,000 people, a number lower than the United States (256), United Kingdom (307) and Germany (298). These suggest a lasting solution to crime will involve an improvement in social support systems and the strategy of policing.

It is estimated that at least 70% of young people that enroll into primary schools don’t make it through secondary education.  We must recognize that these people don’t fall off the earth, and remain a big part of society, albeit without the skills to earn sustainable incomes. This situation continues to provide a veritable talent pool for robbers. By not committing enough resources to theoretical and vocational education, we have made the job of an already ineffectual police force more difficult. The Police Force is also culpable. There are cases where families of the deceased are shamefully forced to pay bribes to collect the bodies of their loved ones, or police stations ignoring distress calls from robbery victims. I have always wondered how certain robbery hotspots are not better policed. The area between Obalende and the 3rd Mainland Bridge is an infamous dark spot, especially at peak traffic periods, yet the police presence there is barely noticeable.

A few days ago, I noticed a popular rapper relaying a robbery incident he witnessed on Twitter, without realizing the victim was my friend’s brother. Irawo Adamolekun, a young medical doctor, was shot at point blank range around Anthony Village. As he is buried today, and we grieve with his family, our collective amnesia must stop. We must demand justice for him and those killed before him, and continue to question the ability of our governments to create the right social environment that minimizes crime.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

Comments (2)

  1. mr/mrs obsever the writter in this case made it clear when he said '' although poverty might be the cause on one hand'' then he went futher to say a ''dysfunctional police'' . When he said that 70percent of student dont go throuhg or finish seccondary school he never ruled out the word deprivation but it was silent and you dint hear. Haven said that i think he touched everything he aught to have, although he had one thing in mind befor writting. THE POLICE

  2. Most crimes, as you must know, are a consequence of poverty and can be directly linked to deprivation (Sociology 101). Instead of railing against the incidence of crime, Mr Oyebode could invest some time in getting a better understanding of the reasons people commit crimes in Nigeria (ie, the underlying socio-economic factors, the political factors etc).

    Crime doesnt exist in a vacuum; it is always linked to social and economic factors.

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