Read the story of Nigeria’s most notorious armed robber
in the 80s who was dreaded by the police as he killed and
robbed massively at will thereby becoming a national
threat.
Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini on
his hospital bed after arrest
Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini, was one of Nigeria’s most
notorious armed robbers who held sway in the old Bendel
State (Now Edo and Delta States).
His reign in the 80s was so bloody that he was even
discussed at the State Security Council meeting. Anini was
born in 1960, and was executed on March 29, 1987,
following his conviction by a Benin High Court for armed
robbery.
Anini was born in a village about 20 miles from Benin City
in present day Edo State. Anini, dreadfully called ‘The Law’
or ‘Ovbigbo,’ migrated to Benin at an early age, learned to
drive and became a skilled taxi driver.
He became known in Benin motor parks as a man who
could control the varied competing interests among motor
park touts and operators. He later delved into the criminal
business in the city and soon became a driver and
transporter for gangs, criminal godfathers and thieves.
Later on, he decided to create his own gang which include,
Monday Osunbor, Ofege, and others, and they started out
as car hijackers, bus robbers and bank thieves. Gradually,
he extended his criminal acts to other towns and cities far
north and east of Benin.
The complicity of the police is believed to have triggered
Anini’s reign of terror in 1986. In early 1986, two members
of his gang were tried and prosecuted against an earlier
under-the-table ‘agreement’ with the police to destroy
evidence against the gang members.
The incident, and Anini’s view of police betrayal, is
believed to have spurred retaliatory actions by Anini. In
August, 1986, a fatal bank robbery linked to Anini was
reported in which a police officer and others were killed.
That same month, two officers on duty were shot at a
barricade while trying to stop Anini’s car. During a span of
three months, he was known to have killed nine police
officers.
In an operation in August of 1986, the Anini team struck at
First Bank, Sabongida-Ora, where they carted away N2,
000. But although the amount stolen was seen as chicken
feed, they left the scene with a trail of blood. Many
persons were killed.
On September 6, same year, the Anini gang snatched a
Peugeot 504 car from Albert Otoe, the driver of an
Assistant Inspector General of Police, Christopher
Omeben. In snatching the car, they killed the driver and
went to hide his corpse somewhere.
It was not until three months later that the skeleton of the
driver was spotted 16 kilometers away from Benin, along
the Benin-Agbor highway. A day after this attack, Anini,
operating in a Passat car believed to have been stolen,
also effected the snatching of another Peugeot 504 car
near the former FEDECO office, in Benin.
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Two days after, the Anini men killed two policemen in
Orhiowon Local Government Area of the state. Still in that
month, three different robbery attacks, all pointing to
Anini’s involvement, took place.
A day after the operation, Anini, The Law, turned to a
‘Father Christmas’ as he strew wads of naira notes on the
ground for free pick by market men and women at a
village near Benin.
Anini thus spear-headed a four-month reign of terror
between August and December 1986. Anini also reportedly
wrote numerous letters to media houses using political
tones of Robin Hood-like words, to describe his criminal
acts.
My friend, where is Anini?
Worried by the seeming elusiveness of Anini and his gang
members, the then military President, General Ibrahim
Babangida, ordered a massive manhunt for the kingpin
and his fellow robbers. The police thus went after them,
combing every part of Bendel State where they were
reportedly operating and living. The whole nation was
gripped with fear of the robbers and their daredevil
exploits.
However, police manhunt failed to stop their activities; the
more they were hunted, the more intensified their
activities became. Some of the locals in the area even
began to tell stories of their invincibility and for a while, it
felt like they were never going to be caught. However, at
the conclusion of a meeting of the Armed Forces Ruling
Council in October 1986, General Babangida turned to the
Inspector-General of Police, Etim Inyang, and asked, ‘My
friend, where is Anini?’
At about this time, Nigerian newspapers and journals were
also publishing various reports and editorials 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
asked, emphatically, in one of its reports: ‘Will they ever
find Anini, “The Law”?’.
His arrest
Finally, it took the courage of Superintendent of Police,
Kayode Uanreroro, to bring the Anini reign of terror to an
end. On December 3, 1986, Uanreroro caught Anini at No
26, Oyemwosa Street, opposite Iguodala Primary School,
Benin City, in company with six women.
Acting on a tip-off from the locals, the policeman went
straight to the house where Anini was hiding and
apprehended him with very little resistance. Uanreroro led
a crack 10-man team to the house, knocked on the door of
the room, and Anini himself, clad in underpants, opened
the door. “Where is Anini,” the police officer quickly
enquired.
Dazed as he was caught off guard and having no escape
route, Anini all the same tried to be smart. “Oh, Anini is
under the bed in the inner room”. As he said it, he made
some moves to walk past Uanreroro and his team.
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In the process, he shoved and head-butted the police
officer but it was an exercise in futility. Uanreroro
promptly reached for his gun, stepped hard on Anini’s right
toes and shot at his left ankle. Anini surged forward but the
policemen took hold of him and put him in a sitting
position.
They then pumped more bullets into his shot leg and
almost severed the ankle from his entire leg. Already,
anguished by the excruciating pains, the policemen asked
him, “Are you Anini?” And he replied, “My brother, I won’t
deceive you; I won’t tell you lie, I’m Anini.”
While in the police net, Anini who had poor command of
English and could only communicate in pidgin, made a
whole lot of revelations.
He disclosed, for instance that Osunbor, who had been
arrested earlier, was his deputy, saying that Osunbor
actually shot and wounded the former police boss of the
state, Akagbosu.
Anini was shot in the leg, transferred to a military hospital,
and had one of his legs amputated. When Anini’s hideout
was searched, police recovered assorted charms, including
the one he usually wore around his waist during
“operations”.
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It was instructive that after Anini was captured and
dispossessed of his charms, the man who terrorised a
whole state and who was supposed to be fearless suddenly
became remorseful, making confessions. This was against
public expectation of a daredevil hoodlum who would
remain defiant to the very end.
Shortly after the arrest of Anini and co, the dare-devil
robbers began to squeal, revealing the roles played by key
police officers and men, in the aiding and abetting of
criminals in Bendel State and the entire country.
Anini particularly revealed that George Iyamu, who was the
most senior police officer shielding the robbers, would
reveal police secrets to them and then, give them logistic
supports such as arms, to carry out robbery operations.
Trial and execution
Due to amputation of his leg, Anini was confined to a
wheelchair throughout his trial. He was sentenced to death
by Justice James Omo-Agege and executed on March 29,
1987.
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