Fears heighten in Lagos as teen gangs take over streets

Many cities in Lagos are under siege from teenage criminals who now terrorize several suburbs in the state with guns and other dangerous weapons, leaving many residents in fear of their lives and properties.

One of the gangs is the Awawa Boys which maintain a strong presence in Agege and environs.

From daylight through dusk, gangs of teenage Awawa recruits prowl through Agege, Ijaiye, Oja Oba, Iyana Ipaja, Dopemu, harassing pedestrians, motorists and shop owners.

An Awawa Boy can be identified by a drippy teardrop tattoo beside the left eye.

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Asides the Awawa and One Million Boys, there are also the Fadeyi Boys, Ereko Boys, Akala Boys, Ijesha Boys, Awala Boys, Shitta Boys, Nokia Boys, No Salary Boys, One Hour Boys, Oshodi Boys, No Mercy Boys, Aguda Boys, Night Cadet, Black Scorpion, Akamo Boys, Omo Kasari Confraternity, Para Gang Confraternity (mainly teenage girls), Japa Boys and Koko Boys, among many others.

They hurl threats at those who refuse to give them money. Sometimes, they throw stones at uncooperative motorists and smash wooden planks on their vehicles.

Another gang is the Kainkain gang of Isale Eko. This gang has been blamed for serial criminal acts including rape, mobile phone theft, pick-pocketing and armed robbery in the mainland area of Lagos.

And residents of Ajegunle otherwise known as Lagos’ jungle city will not forget in a hurry, their ordeal in the hands of One Million Boys (OMB), a gang of hoodlums that terrorised the area.

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Residents revealed that the group metamorphosed into a gang of outlaws. “Before they invaded any community or street, they usually wrote a letter to inform the residents. They sent the letter through a courier, usually a minor, to the head of that street or the landlord association. And when they come, they would rob from one house to the other, raping young girls and even married women.

According to a member of one of the gangs, rape is a crucial part of their initiation rites.

“It helps to groom fearlessness in even the youngest member. Sometimes, when they gang rape a woman, a squad leader would invite his favourite among the new initiates to join in the act. But most times, prospective initiates are ordered to rape a certain number of girls or a particular woman who they intend to shame.”

Several women have been raped on their way to and from work by those boys but they have learnt to keep quiet and hide their pain for fear of being stigmatised by their communities and loved ones,” said Bisi Iyabo, plastic dealer at Pen Cinema, Agege.

Members of the cult are drug dependent. They binge on psychotropic substances including omi gota (gutter juice), colorado, pamilerin, codeine, cannabis, rohypnol and tramadol.

According to Omotoke Iyunade, a social psychologist, the harsh living conditions and endemic poverty in the slums wreak untold havoc on the inhabitants, the children in particular. “Such children having undergone a gruesome childhood characterised by an insidious socialisation process eventually mature into what could be termed damaged youth.”

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She said young people in the slums are often the victim of non-existent or dysfunctional family structures, lack of education and opportunities, race and class-based discrimination. This militarizes them and forces them to adopt a hostile attitude to the world.

Also, Patrick Edewor, PhD, Department of Sociology, Covenant University, said the presence of street children is an indictment of the way the society construes its priorities. “These children and youths suffer a considerable amount of hardship. Although they are ignored by the society, they hope to become productive members of the society,” he noted.