Taiwo Jimoh
As the curtain draws on 2020, ushering in 2021, it becomes necessary to take stock of the security events that shaped 2020.
In deed, 2020 will forever be etched in the memories of Nigerians and the world at large.
Bodies, across the globe, fell and died like flies under attacks from insecticides.
The deaths were not only coronavirus related, but majorly caused by escalating violence in Nigeria, underscoring man’s inhumanity to man.
Songs of sorrow reverberated through the land as the soil of Nigeria turned crimson with blood. It was a year difficult to forget.
2020 witnessed wanton killings, kidnappings and the mother of all protests in Nigeria.
The deadly coronavirus is believed to have entered Nigeria on February 27, 2020, through an Italian, who came on a visit.
To prevent the spread of the virus, the Nigeria government ordered a nationwide lockdown and also banned interstate travels.
The lockdown led to loss of employments, hunger and crime spiraled. At the centre of the crime in Lagos State, was a cult group, “Awawa Boys” also known as, “One-Million Boys.”
Many people believed that the crime waves and attacks were caused by hunger which followed on the heels of the lockdown. Truly, not only did people lose their jobs and sources of income, but tertiary institutions were also on lockdown. These combinations were speculated to be part of factors that gave rise to crimes.
Speaking with a national paper, a resident of Alimosho Local Government in Lagos State back then said: “If you’re going to bed this night, split your pot of soup into two and keep a portion at the entrance of your apartment with a big loaf of bread. When the Awawa Boys appear, they’ll see the sacrifice and pass you by.”
The group robbed and injured citizens and also raped women and girls. The period would later be termed as the roughest and worst moments in the lives of the mega city citizens.
When the citizens got tired of hiding from the hoodlums, they masked their fears, mustered their courage and confronted the group. Residents began to guard their communities, stemming the escalating robbery attacks and cult-related activities.
Some of the areas affected in Lagos by the crime waves were Abule-Egba, Baruwa, Egbeda, Dalemo, Akinde, Dopemu, Ogba, Iyana Ipaja, Meiran and Alakuko. Also troubled are some Lagos-Ogun border communities like Akute, Agbado, Alakuko and Ojokoro.
In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown, police brutality took centre stage, leading to the #EndSARS protests, which rocked the world. It was orchestrated by the Nigerian youth, who were sick and tired of being targeted by personnel of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The protests follow previous activism and government announcements that SARS would be demobilised in 2014, 2015 and 2017. And yet, SARS officers continued to act with impunity, committing armed robberies, rapes, torture, extortion and extrajudicial killings.
Describing the #EndSARS protests, Wikipedia states, “End SARS is a decentralised social movement, and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria. The slogan calls for the disbanding of SARS, a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuses. The protests which takes its name from the slogan started in 2017 as a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #ENDSARS to demand the disbanding of the unit by the Nigerian government. After experiencing a revitalisation in October 2020 following more revelations of the abuses of the unit, mass demonstrations occurred throughout the major cities of Nigeria, accompanied by vociferous outrage on social media platforms.”
On October 11, 2020, the Nigerian Police Force announced the disbanding of SARS, and later stated that the unit would be replaced by S.W.A.T. The protesters felt the immediate creation of S.W.A.T. was suspect and had continued protesting.
On October 20, 2020, at about 6:50 p.m, masked soldiers went to the Lekki-Toll gate, Lagos State, where a large number of protesters were gathered and allegedly opened fire on them.
Amnesty International alleged that at least 12 protesters were killed in the shooting. The Lekki-Toll Gate shooting and subsequent hijacking of the protests by hoodlums believed to have been sponsored by government caused the protests to snowball into mayhem.
The hoodlums, under the guise of being protesters, took to the streets, burning several police stations, killing and maiming policemen. Before the police stations were burnt, the hoodlums looted armoury and freed suspects from cells.
There were also jail breaks in some states, further fueling crimes in the already volatile Nigerian environments. Government infrastructures were also destroyed.
Policemen, who witnessed the murders of their colleagues, burning of their stations and homes, refused to go back to work, embarking on silent protest.
Due to the refusal of the police to return to work, crime escalated in different states. In Edo State, cultists took over the streets, shooting and killing anyone on sight. It was irrelevant whether the person was a rival cultist or not. Dead bodies littered the streets of Edo State.
Following the violence that trailed the #EndSARS protests, governors in different states placed their states on curfew.
In Lagos State, at least 80 Bus Rapid Transit vehicles were burnt at Oyingbo and Ojodu Berger areas of the state in the #EndSARS mayhem. The Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr Gbenga Omotosho, said that 27 of the destroyed BRT vehicles cost $200,000 each, while 57 of them cost $100,000 each, all totalling about N3.9 billion.
This is just as the Lagos State Police command stated that a total of 25 police stations were attacked and razed by the hoodlums amid the protests and at least six policemen were killed and over 20 injured.
The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joe Enwonwu confirmed that it lost five officers to mob attacks occasioned by the EndSARS protests in the state. Enwonwu further raised the alarm that the looting of police armoury could negatively affect the security situation of the state.
Similarly, the Enugu State Police Command decried the killing of its men, burning of two police stations and operational vehicles by criminals who hijacked the protests.
Rape cases were also prevalent in 2020. The year beheld the rape and murder of Uwaila Omozuwa, 22. She died at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Edo State, after she was beaten and raped inside her local church, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Edo Province 10, Ikpoba Hill, Benin.
Uwaila was a 100-Level Microbiology student of UNIBEN. Preliminary investigations showed that she was beaten, raped and hit with a fire extinguisher by unknown assailants on May 27, 2020.
Similarly, Barakat Bello, 18, a student of the Federal College of Animal and Production Technology, Moore Plantation, Apata, Ibadan, was raped to death in Ibadan, Oyo State. She was assaulted in her residence at Akinyele Local Government Area of the state.
Miss Favour Okechukwu, 11, was also gang-raped at the Ejigbo area of Lagos State and later died. The deceased, a Junior Secondary School (JSS3) student, was sent on an errand by her mother at about 3 p.m. when she was lured into a building at Olarewaju Street and gang raped by four men.
The year also saw increased in incest and domestic violence. The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, argued that the lockdown caused the increase in rape, incest and domestic violence.
Another horrific incident that occurred in the year under review was the beheading of 43 rice Zabarmari farmers by Boko Haram terrorists group in Maiduguri, Borno State, on November 28.
The farmers were lined up and then beheaded one after another. The farmers were reportedly killed in retaliation for refusing to pay extortion to a member of the Boko Haram sect.
The year also witnessed the death of Tolulope Oluwatoyin Sarah Arotile, the first-ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force. She was said to have died on July 14, from a head injury sustained in an accident at the Nigerian Air Force base in Kaduna State. She was inadvertently hit by the reversing vehicle of an excited former Air Force secondary school classmate, who was trying to say hello to her.
As 2020 began to come to an end, another shocking incident happened on December 11, 2020. At least over 300 students were kidnapped from a boys' secondary school on the outskirts of Kankara, Katsina State. The following day after the abduction of the students, there was chaotic situation at the school as desperate parents and security personnel gathered to search for the students who went missing.
The students were reportedly abducted by bandits for ransom. The Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Masari, however, said, the bandits later released the students to security officials without any ransom being paid.
The activities of Boko Haram, herdsmen and bandits, which had often characterised and taken over the Nigerian security space, continued unchecked in 2020. Nigerians took to prayers, asking for divine interventions, rather than believing that help will come from the government.
Culled from New Telegraph Newspaper
No comments:
Post a Comment