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HomeUncategorizedHow Lockdown And Starvation Spiked Armed Robbery Attacks in Lagos-Ogun Unrest

How Lockdown And Starvation Spiked Armed Robbery Attacks in Lagos-Ogun Unrest

Criminals

Criminasl arrested during COVID-19 lockdown terrorizing Lagos and Ogun residents

 

In the last few days, residents of some Lagos and Ogun communities
have been threatened by a sudden raid by armed robbery gangs. The
robbers with ages ranging between late teens to early 20s are said to
have attacked with locally-made guns, knives and machetes, breaking down
doors and robbing residents of their possessions. Cases have even been
reported of severe assaults and rapes carried out by these
criminally-minded groups.

 

The incidents which were first reported in Ogun communities quickly
spiralled to neighbouring Lagos communities forcing the residents to
raise alarm to the government and the Police. On social media, the
hashtags #LagosUnrest and #OgunUnrest became dominant trends with
residents using the means to allay their fears to the entire public of
their situation. Viral videos soon emerged on the internet showing
neighbourhood vigilantes and youths wielding sticks, iron rods and
burning tyres while keeping vigil to ward off and protect their
neighbourhoods from the dare-devil robbers, as they complained of having
no help from the Nigerian Police.

 

Even though the Police in Lagos, however, claim that majority of
the reported cases are false alarm raised by panicking residents and
that several calls to their hotlines were later found out to be prank
calls, the heightening insecurity in the country can not be underlooked
nor underestimated.

 

Why the sudden spike in armed robbery during this lockdown, one may
ask. Could it be related to the imposition of the mandatory sit-at-home
order?

 

Lagos and Ogun, alongside the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja were
put under federal lockdown by the order of the Federal Government to
contain the spread of the Coronavirus which was fast gaining high
numbers in these places.

 

According to residents, these ruthless gangs simply identified as
Awawa Boys and One Billion Boys. Some were even identified to belong to
cult groups going by ludicrous names such as Sahara Boys, Federal Boys,
Ilena Boys, Marindoti Boys, Lemon Boys. It may not be far from the truth
to suggest that criminals have taken advantage of the lockdown to
perpetrate evil in these communities.

 

When the government announced the lockdown, it did so with the
promise to make available palliatives aimed at relieving some of the
econom­ic pain through the lockdown period. Very few people have gotten
relief materials from the Federal government and those that even got
anything at all from the State governments complained that the gesture
was too little to sustain them for more than a day. Also, cash
disbursement that was promised to ” the poorest and most vulnerable in
the society” seems not to have taken effect up till now.

 

Most Nigerians live on a daily wage or a subsistence lifestyle
where they fend from whatever they are able to make of the day to
survive. This cycle is what many routinely undergo. So, imagine what to
them, might turn out to be an option if the lockdown continues to
prevent them from sourcing for their daily bread in the legal way which
they have been accustomed to.

 

We can’t run away from the fact that people are getting hungry and
even angrier, which is not to say is enough reason to rob others, but
there is little you can do to dissuade a man who is hungry and has
mouths to feed from going the extreme when you have prevented him from
fending for himself the legal way.

 

It has been three weeks since the lockdown commenced and no ending
in sight. Without the necessary palliative measures to help cushion the
economic effect of staying at home with no source of income, it would
come a time when people will revolt and care less of getting infected by
the virus but choose to go out to survive starving to death.

 

By Victor Enengedi

kuffz999@yahoo.com

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