When a barrage of slaps landed on Peter Eze’s face on the evening of August 17, 2016, for the first time, he experienced one of the ugly scenarios he had heard about the ever-busy streets of Oshodi in Lagos State.
Eze, a native of the Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, set out from his parent’s home in Mushin to visit his uncle who lived in Ladipo.
The graduate of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, who was 19 years old at the time, was listening to music through earphones attached to his Infinix phone, which he had placed in his pocket.
When a barrage of slaps landed on Peter Eze’s face on the evening of August 17, 2016, for the first time, he experienced one of the ugly scenarios he had heard about the ever-busy streets of Oshodi in Lagos State.
Eze, a native of the Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, set out from his parent’s home in Mushin to visit his uncle who lived in Ladipo.
The graduate of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, who was 19 years old at the time, was listening to music through earphones attached to his Infinix phone, which he had placed in his pocket.
“In no time, about five guys circled me and charged at me, ‘We were calling you and you didn’t respond, are you mad?’ Before I could say anything, a slap landed on my face. I was still disoriented when another landed on my face again.
“The next thing I felt were hands going in and out of my pockets. They took my phone and my wallet.
“This happened at past 6 pm because I still had my wristwatch on me. It happened at a time when people could see what was going on, but people were just minding their business and looked on; nobody turned to help or intervene.
“One of the guys shoved me to the floor and began beating me. I just laid there in fear, unable to do anything. When they left me, I managed to sit up on the ground in confusion watching the people walking past me. Eventually, I had to clean myself up.
“There was no phone to call my uncle or my mum, so I turned back and trekked back home to Mushin. My eyes were swollen and my mother was alarmed, but thankful that they didn’t kill me.”
Highlighting other stories of robberies he had heard about since his experience, Eze described the Oshodi area as a zone “where many people get robbed at night and it’s always the underbridge side”.
Two men attacked in Ketu
Like most Saturday evenings, Ayomide Ojedele, who lives in the Mile 12 axis, goes to watch football matches at the Agiliti area in Ketu.
However, on March 16, 2024, the 29-year-old, came under an attack by some touts on his way home from a viewing centre.
“I was holding my phone to see through the dark when three guys suddenly cornered me around the Alapere axis and ordered me to bring the phone I was holding, I refused and it turned into a struggle. They were trying to wrest my phone from my hands and while that was going on, I pushed one of them to the floor.
“It seems like they were cultists because one of them spoke a slang term to the other, more like, ‘Give him one’.
“That was how one of them hit me with a cutlass in the head and my head began to bleed. Eventually, they snatched the phone from me.
“The only fortunate thing was that I was able to retrieve my Bank Verification Number and account number that night and blocked my account, so they couldn’t use the stolen phone to withdraw my money,” he recounted.
Another resident of Mile 12, Ebenezer Ayinde, who was on his way to visit his elder sister one evening in 2023 said he was attacked when he was around the overhead bridge at Ketu.
As the video went viral last weekend, several netizens took to social media to share their experiences of being harassed by louts in Agege, particularly around the overhead bridge.
The Agege Pen Cinema Bridge which was completed in September 2020 and inaugurated by Sanwo-Olu in February 2021 has been described by residents to be an unsafe zone for citizens due to the hoodlums that have found refuge there.
It was observed that in a section of the bridge, there was an abandoned rail line dotted by vendors and hawkers of various wares and two staircases that were often used by pedestrians to cross the lines.
The site has been described as the ‘axis of evil’ where robberies, extortions, and harassment by louts take place, even in broad daylight.
An Instagram user, Shayez, wrote, “I work in the Agege Local Government (Area) and we’ve been advised never to pick (phone) calls or put anything tangible in our bags when walking across Agege underbridge and its environs as one could lose his or her life to these street urchins.
“You have to adhere to the warning, otherwise you might not live to tell the stories. I’ve heard over 10 stories of how they hijacked people’s bags, and phones, and in some cases, some victims get killed!”
Corroborating Shayez’s stance, another Instagram user, Obafemi Adeleye, stated, “These urchins are always under the bridge, once you are about to cross the railway.
“They are mostly at that spot when you are about to make use of the stairs and they attack mostly females. That Agege bridge is worse. It has happened to me too but thank God I was raised on the street.”
Recounting his experience on X, a Lagos resident who gave his name as Pelumi said he and his friend were accosted by a lout in Agege who ordered them to hand over their money.
“This happened to me and my friend in Agege on the night of December 26, 2021. The guy stopped us and greeted us like a normal human being. My friend answered and I also answered. The next thing he demanded we give him something. I said I didn’t have my friend likewise.
“Then he said in Yoruba, ‘Ma gun iya yin ni isinyi’ (I will just stab your mothers now). My friend agreed to give him N2,000 but he refused, asking us whether he told us he was hungry, and why we were giving him N2,000.
“He turned to me and asked about mine. I told him I didn’t have any money and he brought out his knife and said, ‘Iya e ma foju sun kun e nisinyi’ (Your mother will soon cry over your death).
“I was shocked. Thank God for an old woman selling water close by who told him to leave us. That was when he let us be. Mind you that Agege Oju Irin (old railway) side is their base,” Pelumi, in a tweet posted on April 5, recalled.
“Areas like Bariga, Somolu, and the Bajulaye axis are red zones where these incidents happen. Those thugs are something else.
“I have seen them stop commercial bikes or tricycles, order passengers to come down, and give them money. If you dare resist, big slaps can land on your face, and mind you, these harassments occur in broad daylight, not even at night or evening and people around will be looking on as if it’s a skit,” a shoe vendor, Isaiah Adeogun, told our correspondent.
Corroborating Adeosun’s opinion, an Uber driver, who gave his name as Samuel, also told our correspondent that certain areas in the state were unsafe for car owners and pedestrians, especially in the evenings.
He added, “In Orile, you will see the thugs armed with cutlasses and they will hit your car’s bonnet or windows and ask you for money, if you dare open the window, you’ll get robbed and extorted. You will see them attacking people even in broad daylight.
“In areas like Oshodi, Ketu, Mile 2, Idumota, Ikotun, or Obalende, I can’t even park my car to get down or purchase something if it’s evening. Some other unsafe zones are Westminster (Olodi Apapa), Ojo, Volks, and even Alausa towards CMD Road under the bridge.”
Wistfully, a digital marketer, Chris Nomor, narrated how he was attacked and robbed in broad daylight in Iyana Iba, along the Ojo-Lagos State University Expressway.
“It happened in 2017 when I was going to visit a friend. I alighted in the area and as I walked towards the street I was visiting, I suddenly felt a slap from the back, and then another.
Following the report, operatives of the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps arrested the miscreants who were immediately charged in court.
Giving an update on the matter, the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, on March 21, wrote on his official X account, “As a follow-up to the arrests made of miscreants extorting traders on the pedestrian bridge across Lagos, the magistrates’ court sitting in Oshodi convicted the defendants for breach of public peace and illegal collection of money from people with goods.
“Magistrate Oshikoya sentenced the defendants to one month in prison. Also, the magistrates’ court sitting in Oshodi convicted 17 defendants for crossing the highway and not making use of the pedestrian bridges. The court found them guilty and sentenced them to two months in prison with an option of N7,000 fine.”
In another post on April 5, Wahab wrote, “A total of nine miscreants were apprehended by the officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps during (an) early morning operation at Bolade, Shogunle, PWD, and Ladipo pedestrian bridges for preventing people from using the facilities.”
Police arrest 303 suspects
On Monday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, in a statement, disclosed that the police arrested no fewer than 303 suspects during a raid of criminal hideouts following reports of illegal seizure of phones within the Lagos metropolis.
He said, “The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Adegoke Fayoade, mni, has received with concern reports that young men in certain parts of Lagos State seize passers-by’s phones to extort them despite the sustained raids being carried out by officers and men of the command.
“People need skilled development centres in different areas of the state. Through these engagement centres, young people can learn skills and become barbers, caterers, or fashion designers.
“The government also needs to empower them so they can be taken off the streets. Also, there must be a law that states that louts who are roaming about at night without an identity card should be arrested.”
Also commenting on the menace of hoodlums in the state, a sociologist, Adekunle Kukehin, said the problem had been worsened by the high rate of hunger.
“There are some areas you will go to in Lagos and you will be forced to pay louts to pass through the place safely. The political dynasty in the state came into power with the menace of agberos and has been sustained by it.
“This has fostered a culture of tyranny in which miscreants wield so much power in a city and believe they are untouchable. However, we must commend the police for its recent actions in arresting them, that’s a good place to start,” he said.
We don’t condone hooliganism – Lagos
However, the Commissioner for Information, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, in an interview debunked the claim that the state had a culture of tyranny wielded by hooligans. He added, “If there they are referring to the National Union of Road Transport Workers people, I think it won’t be right for them to be so derided because they are a union and their membership is by volition.
“They have their laws, rules, and regulations, then there are some other people who call themselves agbero, and under the guise of calling themselves agbero, they are doing things that are against the law and unfavourable to Lagosians. Such people should be reported to the law enforcement agencies and they will go after them.
“We do not condone hooliganism, illegality, or any behaviour that may be of negative effect to other residents. We are a civilised people; we are a people of culture and we won’t accept those who are disturbing the lives of other people, so it is incorrect for anyone to say there is a culture of tyranny in Lagos.
“The government has been doing everything to reform those who are not doing well, and that is why vocational centres have been established all over the place to train them to learn trades. The government has also supported initiatives like Eko Inspire Me created by Aralola Olamuyiwa (the drummer) which is targeted at area boys who are sent to schools, reformed and empowered with businesses.”
