LAWRENCE ANINI, Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robber Part 3

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LAWRENCE ANINI, Nigeria’s Most Notorious Armed Robber Part 1 Click here for it

THE DAYS OF ARMED ROBBERY

Anini did not give much information about his early days in the underworld but he confessed that he was introduced to the 'trade' by one Friday Agbonifo (dead as at the time Anini was captured). He is thought have become friends with Kingsley Eweka in the period between 1984-1986. By July 1986, Anini was powerful enough to launch a full frontal assault against the entire police force of Nigeria's Mid-West region.

By August 1986, Anini had metamorphosed into a full-time snitching monster. That month, one of the bloodiest bank robberies in Nigeria's history would be commandeered by Anini and his ruthless fellows. In the heist, a policeman was gunned down while others, including two children, were also killed. That same bloody month, Anini and his 'guys' were cruising down and as they vehicle was flagged down at a police checkpoint, they opened fire. Two police officers lost their lives in that incident. Within 90 days, a total of nine policemen lost their lives in Anini's hands. 16 civilians had been killed and a total of 12 banks robbed, according to Prince Amen Oyakhire, the former military governor of Taraba and Yola States, who was mandated by IBB to travel to Benin on the Anini case.

But August 1986 would not end without another Anini's displaying his insatiable appetite for taking what does not belong to him. This time around it was the turn of First Bank Plc and the specific target was their branch at Sabongida-Ora. Monday 11th was the appointed date and 3.30pm was the time. Amazingly, they left with a relatively little amount of money (N2,000) but they wasted numerous lives at the scene of the robbery. They killed three people on the spot upon reaching the venue, one of whom was a policeman. Stray bullets from the maniacal Anini and his possessed gang flew off and killed two children who had been locked up in a building near the bank. They were madly firing at the house when a policeman ran in for safety.

The prince executed for armed robbery was indeed Anini's jolly friend and they moved together. However, when he was executed, Anini vowed to not only make the police repay him his money which he paid so the evidence against Eweka could be destroyed but he would also avenge the death of his friend in a most gripping manner, one that the Nigeria Police would never forget in a hurry. Over time, Anini had various bloody confrontations with the Nigeria Police. At a point, the Nigeria Police unleashed so much terror and destruction on his network that his bubbling business in Ibadan, Oyo State was liquidated and brought to a sudden halt.

Following the execution of his friend, Prince Eweka, and coupled with the way the police had dealt with him and his nefarious businesses, Anini vowed to deal ruthlessly with the Nigeria Police. Henceforth, he would be far more ruthless than he had been in the past as he believed that the Ibadan attack on him by the cops was just unjustified. What even enraged him more was the fact that the police (George Sam Iyamu to be specific) had collected the sum of N50,000 from him and agreed that Eweka would be freed as it was to him, a 'taboo' for a Bini prince to be executed, only for the police to turn around and nail Eweka's coffin. Anini would never forget this act of 'betrayal' and from then on, him and his killing spree partner, Monday Osunbor would specifically target policemen. Oba of Benin then stressed the fact that Anini has no link whatsoever with the royal family. The monarch would later tell the police authorities to search their cupboards very well.

Then the bloodbath began, Anini and his gang turned Benin City to a stage of gory robberies and treated the people to horrendous spectacles of blood-curdling crimes. For maximum dramatic impact, Anini, would spray naira notes from their getaway car as he engaged in frantic shootouts with the police shouting:

'I rob for the people!'

-It was on the 14th of August, 1986. Anini was driving a stolen Peugeot 504 and when he was flagged down by policemen at the Jeromi-Edebiri junction, he fired at the officers without thinking. By the time the policemen were taken to the Central Hospital, two of them were already dead.

Before long, he was known not only within Benin but all over Nigeria. Newspapers and media outlets all went into a frenzy with editorials and major features discussing nothing but Anini and whether he would ever meet his nemesis. Anini never hid his disdain for the police and when he was eventually nabbed, he would confess:

'Dem kill my father and brother at Ibadan, and my friend Kingsley Eweka.'

But like a man possessed by the very evil of the Devil himself, Anini was also believed to carry out another car snatching near the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO)office in Benin (another Peugeot 504) the next day after AIG of police Omeben's driver had been abducted (see below), in the first week of September. Omeben was in Benin to work on the Anini case. Anini was suspected to have used a Passat TS vehicle for this particular operation (of course, the Passat too was believed to have been pilfered).

But that was not all. 48 hours after the Passat incident, Anini stormed his own local government area (Orhionmwon) and by the time the hapless people knew what had hit them, Anini and his death squad had pumped bullets into two police officers. A string of three different armed robberies would then follow and all fingers pointed at Lawrence (his nickname The Law is a shortened form of his name).

-In one of Anini's operations, the Mercedes Benz 200 (registered BD 1 HA) of the Ogbogbovmen II, the Ovie (King) of Ughelli was stolen in Benin. Actually, the monarch in full regalia in his car before he was swooped upon by Anini's gang and he was dragged out of the car. They ensured that they meted out some measure of disgrace upon the helpless traditional ruler before they made away with his glittering Mercedes. As the King took a hired taxi back to his palace, he was wondering if it was one very bad dream. Yes, it was a nightmare and it was called Anini.

-A chartered accountant named Mrs. Remi Shobanjo who was also the President of the Ugbowo Lioness Club, was murdered while a former worker and Staff Writer with the Nigerian Observer, Mr. Frank Unoarumi, was also killed and they made away with his Peugeot 505. When Anini and his gang reached the office of the Shobanjos, they banged the door with all the fury left in Hell and then started firing at the door. They arrived the Adesogbe Street office around 7.40 in the evening.

The terrified couple inside the room did not know what to do and decided to be silent and not open the door. Then they continued firing at the door until it gave way. A bullet sped in and lodged itself near the poor woman's heart. Before she knew what hit her, Mrs. Shobanjo was dead. She died on the spot. Then they entered, stole N200, the couple's Peugeot 504 (later found in Aghalokpe, Delta State) which they drove off with, after making away with some documents too.

Between 5th and 9th September, 1986, Anini and his gang made it clear that they were not joking. The attacked two police stations and posts at Abudu (the seat of his own local government area) where he killed a police sergeant and father of seven named Daniel Omedew, took his pistol and went away with other weapons in the station. Then he and his devilish train moved to Ugo town where Corporal Lucky Ogieva was not lucky at all, falling to their bullets. By the time they left, two officers of the Nigerian Police had been killed in cold blood and many more escaped with varying degrees of injuries.

By the end of September 1986, Anini seemed untouchable and the entity called Nigeria was already saturated with the chilling news of a dreaded robber from Benin. That month, Anini, wearing the uniform of a police superintendent launched another assault on a petrol station situated along Wire Road in Benin City. He then collected all the proceeds of their sales for the day, an undisclosed amount of money, then he decided to shoot the station manager in the thigh. In a macabre fashion, he sprayed part of the money along the road as he made his escape. This act of his is why some termed him the 'Robin Hood of Africa'.

As you might have guessed, Anini's string of successes further emboldened him and spurred him to take even greater challenges. On Independence Day (1st October, 1986), he fired another salvo of surprise at Nigerians when he waylaid a man, Mr. Casmir Akagbosu, in Benin around 9 pm and shot the cartilage of his nose, which almost fell off. A reflex turning of his head saved Akagbosu's life. His head was just centimetres away from the speeding bullets. That night was real evening of terror as Anini's superior weaponry blasted off with brutal efficiency, shattering the calm peace of a Benin populace preparing to sleep.

But Akagbosu was no ordinary citizen, he was actually the State's Commissioner of Police and he had just been attacked in his new Peugeot 504 right at a spot just about 100 metres from a police roadblock. With a shattered nose, he managed to survive the attack with other injuries and it must be noted that earlier that day, Anini's men had gone round town that same day, even killing a policeman in the process. He was a pack of sheer terror, violence and destruction and I believe that at a point, he must have believed that he would never be caught, that he was on top of the world, with the globe at his sinewy feet.

The Commissioner of Police would also survive a second attack. He was seated in a station wagon flanked by two officers, his aides: one Sergeant Ojo and Corporal Ogbe Zechariah. All of a sudden, they were under a volley of fierce bullets coming from all directions. Anini and his boys again. Luckily for Akagbosu but unluckily for his assistants, his two aides received all the hits on their limbs and thighs. The driver, Constable Paulinus Oweh was not that lucky. He was hit in the head and his limp body collapsed on the seat, with blood gushing out of the point of impact. An unidentified MOPOL (mobile policeman) seating in front with the driver however escaped untouched. The sudden attack left the Commissioner and his boys completely flabbergasted and could not mount any reasonable response on time. At that point, the legend of Anini, the man who attacked a Police Commissioner spread far and wide all over Nigeria. Demoralized policemen would become hypertensive at the mere mention of the Orogho crime lord.

Not long after that, Anini was on rampage again. He was off to the Ring Road, one of his favourite spots for attacks. Driving the blue Santana that he had stolen earlier (to tease the police, he took the car after stealing it to a car wash where he calmly stayed for about an hour while the car was being cleaned), he turned at the Iwehen Street junction and he was not too far from the petrol station where he had struck less than a month ago. All of sudden, he caught a glimpse of a lonely police constable walking on the street. Chai!

He brought the car to a halt, withdrew his submachine gun and with the madness of a crazed Hitler, he released a torrent of bullets on the poor policeman.