There have been a debate among Nigerian about the most notorious armed robber. Some think is Shina Rambo while some pick other notorious criminals in Nigeria. Suffice me to say is Lawrence Anini. Read the full story below to know why I picked him.
Full history of Nigeria's most notorious armed robber during the 80s who was feared by the police as he was said to have murdered and ransacked enormously freely, along these lines turning into a national risk.
Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini, was one of Nigeria's most notorious armed robbers who held influence in the old Bendel State (Now Edo and Delta States).
His reign during the 80s was ridiculous to the point that he was even talked about at the State Security Council meeting.
Anini was executed on March 29, 1987, after his conviction by a Benin High Court for armed robbery.
Anini was conceived in 1960 out of a town around 20 miles from Benin City, present day Edo State. Terribly called 'The Law' or 'Ovbigbo', he relocated to Benin at an early age, figured out how to drive and turned into a gifted cab driver.
He got referred to in Benin engine stops as a man who could control the fluctuated contending interests among engine park touts and administrators. He later dove into the criminal business in the city and before long turned into a driver and transporter for gangs, criminal godfathers and cheats.
Later on, he chose to make his own pack which incorporate, Monday Osunbor, Ofege, and others, and they began as vehicle criminals, transport robbers and bank hoodlums. Step by step, he stretched out his criminal demonstrations to different towns and urban areas far north and east of Benin.
The complicity of the police is accepted to have set off Anini's reign of dread in 1986. In mid 1986, two individuals from his group were attempted and arraigned against a before under-the-table 'concurrence with' the police to wreck proof against the posse individuals.
The episode, and Anini's perspective on police double-crossing, is accepted to have prodded retaliatory activities by Anini. In August, 1986, a deadly bank robbery connected to Anini was accounted for in which a cop and others were murdered. That equivalent month, two officials on the job were taken shots at a blockade while attempting to stop Anini's vehicle. During a range of a quarter of a year, he was known to have murdered nine cops.
In an activity in August of 1986, the Anini group struck at First Bank, Sabongida-Ora, where they trucked away N2,000. In any case, despite the fact that the sum taken was viewed as chicken feed, they left the scene with a path of blood. Numerous people were slaughtered.
On September 6, same year, the Anini group grabbed a Peugeot 504 vehicle from Albert Otoe, the driver of an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Christopher Omeben. In grabbing the vehicle, they murdered the driver and went to shroud his carcass some place.
It was not until a quarter of a year later that the skeleton of the driver was spotted 16 kilometers from Benin, along the Benin-Agbor parkway. A day after this assault, Anini, working in a Passat vehicle accepted to have been taken, likewise affected the grabbing of another Peugeot 504 vehicle close to the previous FEDECO office, in Benin.
Two days after, the Anini men killed two cops in Orhiowon Local Government Area of the state. Still in that month, three distinctive robbery assaults, all highlighting Anini's contribution, occurred.
A day after the activity, Anini, The Law, went to a 'Father Christmas' as he strew wads of naira notes on the ground with the expectation of complimentary pick by showcase people at a town close to Benin.
Anini along these lines skewer headed a four-month rule of dread among August and December 1986. Anini additionally apparently composed various letters to media houses utilizing political tones of Robin Hood-like words, to portray his criminal demonstrations.
My companion, where is Anini?
Stressed by the appearing subtlety of Anini and his pack individuals, the then military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, requested a monstrous manhunt for the boss and his kindred robbers. The police in this way followed them, brushing all aspects of Bendel State where they were supposedly working and living. The entire country was grasped with dread of the robbers and their adrenaline junkie misuses.
In any case, police manhunt neglected to stop their exercises; the more they were pursued, the more strengthened their exercises became. A portion of local people in the zone even started to recount accounts of their invulnerability and for some time, it felt like they were never going to be gotten. Be that as it may, at the decision of a gathering of the Armed Forces Ruling Council in October 1986, General Babangida went to the Inspector-General of Police, Etim Inyang, and asked, 'Old buddy, where is Anini?'
At about this time, Nigerian papers and diaries were likewise distributing different reports and articles on the 'Anini Challenge', the 'Anini Saga', the 'Anini Factor', 'Lawrence Anini – the Man, the Myth', 'Anini, Jack the Ripper', and 'Lawrence Anini: A Robin Hood in Bendel'. The Guardian solicited, earnestly, in one of its reports: 'Will they ever discover Anini, "The Law"?'.
His Arrest
At last, it took the fearlessness of Superintendent of Police, Kayode Uanreroro, to finish the Anini rule of dread. On December 3, 1986, Uanreroro got Anini at No 26, Oyemwosa Street, inverse Iguodala Primary School, Benin City, in organization with six ladies.
Following up on a tip-off from local people, the cop went directly to the house where Anini was stowing away and secured him with next to no opposition. Uanreroro drove a split 10-man group to the house, thumped on the entryway of the room, and Anini himself, clad in undies, opened the entryway. "Where is Anini," the cop immediately enquired.
Stupefied as he was found napping and having no way out course, Anini no different attempted to be brilliant. "Goodness, Anini is under the bed in the internal room". As he said it, he made a few moves to stroll past Uanreroro and his group.
Simultaneously, he pushed and head-butted the cop however it was a pointless activity. Uanreroro instantly went after his weapon, ventured hard on Anini's correct toes and took shots at his left lower leg. Anini flooded forward yet the police officers grabbed hold of him and put him in a sitting position.
They at that point siphoned more projectiles into his shot leg and nearly cut off the lower leg from his whole leg. Effectively, anguished by the horrendous agonies, the police officers asked him, "Are you Anini?" And he answered, "My sibling, I won't bamboozle you; I won't disclose to you lie, I'm Anini."
While in the police net, Anini who had poor direction of English and could just impart in pidgin, made a mess of disclosures.
He uncovered, for example that Osunbor, who had been captured before, was his agent, saying that Osunbor really shot and injured the previous police supervisor of the state, Akagbosu.
Anini was shot in the leg, moved to a military clinic, and had one of his legs cut away. At the point when Anini's den was looked, police recouped arranged charms, including the one he for the most part wore around his midriff during "tasks".
It was informative that after Anini was caught and confiscated of his charms, the man who threatened an entire state and who should be dauntless unexpectedly got contrite, making admissions. This was against open desire for a thrill seeker punk who might stay rebellious as far as possible.
Not long after the capture of Anini and co, the adrenaline junkie robbers started to screech, uncovering the jobs played by key cops and men, in the helping and abetting of lawbreakers in Bendel State and the whole nation.
Anini especially uncovered that George Iyamu, who was the most senior cop protecting the robbers, would uncover police insider facts to them and afterward, give them calculated backings, for example, arms, to do robbery activities.
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