They blew up the banks’ security doors with dynamites and tore down the Close Circuit Televisions of the two banks (CCTV) before carrying out simultaneous operations.
A mother and her two-year-old daughter were mowed down by the robbers’ bullet. Many other people were injured. Obviously, residents of 4th Avenue, where the robbery took place, were shocked at the invasion, but security watchers and stakeholders were not. The reason security watchers were not surprised by the attack is not far fetch.
This gang was behind the two Ikorodu and Lekki epoch-making bank robberies carried out early this year. The modus operandi remains the same. Not only do the robbers attack with dynamites, they also wear military uniforms and usually come and escape through the waterways. The gang members have one language in common; Ijaw.
This naturally makes security agents to surmise they are from Niger Delta. Some security agents even speculated that the robbers are an extraction of Niger-Delta militants, who couldn’t give up the life of crime even after being offered amnesty.
Why are security watchers not surprised by the attack? It’s simply because since the previous robberies in Ikorodu and Lekki, none of the robbers had been arrested. Indeed, some fishermen, mere hirelings, hired by the robbers in the Ikorodu robberies, were arrested by the police, but the big fishes remained aloft, swimming and waiting to strike again.
The strike came on Tuesday, October 13, 2015. This same gang led to the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, giving the former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Kayode Aderanti, his marching orders, bringing in the present CP. Fatai Owoseni. Determined to arrest and stop these militant robbers, the Lagos Police Command created a new department of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and stationed it personnel permanently at Ikorodu axis.
After the Ikorodu bank robberies, SARS teams complained that they were being sent on suicide missions. They compared their AK47 rifles with the machine guns, pump actions, grenades and dynamites carried by the robbers. The Command’s exhibit room was raided and four machine guns, recovered from former suspected robbers, were given to SARS men at Ikorodu axis.
The SARS men today are in plainclothes, patrolling the shores of canals in Ikorodu, posing as fishermen. Everyone expected the robbers to strike again, but nobody expected them to strike at FESTAC. All eyes were on Ikorodu. It’s strongly believed that this same gang is the one that had been terrorizing Ikorodu areas and Arepo in Ogun State, carrying out stunning acts of oil pipeline vandalism.
They leave sorrow, tears and blood whenever they attack. They have killed several policemen, operatives of Department of State Security Services (DSS) and officials of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Once they kill these security men, they disappear with their corpses and rifles. Aside from the gang being well organised, there’s the military uniforms and usual escape through the waterways between the oil thieves and bank robbers. It’s not a secret that an average Ijaw youth knows the waterways like the back of his hand.
The chances are also 50-50 that this gang is the same that stormed the home of The Sun’s Deputy Managing Director/ Deputy Editor- in- Chief, Mr Steve Nwosu, and abducted his wife.
The men, who invaded Nwosu’s home, were in military uniforms and later escaped through the waterways. The Chief Executive Officer of Mega Guards, Mr Richard Amuwa said: “I can’t say for a fact if the bank robbers and pipeline vandals are the same. But it’s a possibility, judging by their manner of operations. I must however state that these robbers are using the same system. They know that we have a police system that’s reactive than proactive.
Policemen not being proactive make it easier for robbers and vandals to continue to operate in Lagos.” Amuwa said that the police are not focusing on blocking areas that robbers take in carrying out operations. Citing example, he said: “What happened in Lekki robbery? The robbers escaped and the same happened in the Ikorodu bank robberies.
The robbers used the same style they used in the FESTAC robberies. Until our security agents realised that they need to nail the criminals in the boat, robber will continue to rob Lagos! The present administration of Lagos State is kind of sleeping
The past administration had so many vehicles stationed in every locality of Lagos. In my opinion, Lagos State Government should wake up to their responsibility. The police need to wake up too. Nigerians also need to be part of the security system. I don’t understand why Nigerians don’t quickly report suspicious things they see.
They don’t report on time! In fact, how many people know how to use the 767 and 112 emergency numbers? It’s high time for Nigerians to wake up! Sincerely speaking, the rate of robbery has increased even on the streets.”
Suggesting what law enforcement agencies can do to check robberies by suspects in military clothes, Amuwa said: “We don’t have enough security people in Nigeria. But what we can do for now is that all river banks should have installed security system in those areas such as CCTV.
This will enable the police to capture the faces of the suspects. Another thing is that the police should go back and check if they can have control of those areas.
The security equipment should be more powerful than those built in the streets. Again, what is our Maritime Police doing? They are supposed to protect those in the water ways!” According to Mr Ethelbert Onuoha Anabiri Oney, Chief Executive Officer, consultant, Zenith Intelligence and Security Solution Ltd, the best ways to respond to crimes such as terrorism, robbery, pipeline vandalism and kidnapping is to give the perpetrators long prison sentences. Speaking further on whether oil vandals and the bank robbers are the same, Oney said: “What we should worry about is how to take care of our domestic affairs.
We should be more proactive than reactive. Training and the technology for investigation, coupled with corruption, are the problems we have in Nigeria. In a society where so many things are not in place, crime will continue to occur.”
He argued that as long as unemployment persists, bank robberies and pipeline vandalisms will persist. He added: “These criminals can be arrested in some ways. One of the ways is through assessment! We lack the ability of effective assessment because of the fact that we do not have effective technology.
We do not have experts (trained) on how to figure out for example, to put together different crimes that happened in different places to be able to know if they were carried out by the same set of people. We do not have such mechanism.
On the issue of Boko Haram, the law enforcement agents don’t know the capacity, the weakness of the Boko Haram and they don’t even know the technological equipment the enemy has. In order to carry out an effective investigation, there should be a proper training and active use of technology such as CCTV in the sense that if you come out from your shop or you are travelling from one place to another, the cameras will be monitoring your movement.”
A security analyst, Mr. Folorunsho Atta said he wasn’t sure if the gang is the same that had terrorized banks in Lekki and Ikorodu or same gang attacking oil pipelines. He however opined that the police should always be alert. He urged Federal Government to better equip the police and to send personnel to marine department for instant patrol of the waterways.
Policing Lagos, the Centre of Excellency, should no longer be left in the hands of just the policemen. The navy personnel and its available ships should be involved in patrolling waterways that close to commercial and residential areas. There’s no argument that the Nigerian Navy has the upper arm in policing waterways.
Waterway gangs are the emerging and present danger Lagos is facing. And as long as this gang is not arrested or their numbers decimated, it will continue to strike at Lagos. Lagos is now the present Automated Teller Machine (ATM) for the gang, where easy money could be grabbed from homes, banks or through kidnapping.
Removing States Commissioners of Police and other senior police officers, after robbery attacks, should be jettisoned for a better approach to arrest waterways criminals. Avenues to patrol waterways and stop further attacks should fashion out. Whether the police like or not, this gang will strike again. What no one knows however is whether the focus of the attack will be bank, oil pipelines or homes to rob and kidnap victims.
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