ONCE again, violence and
criminality are spiralling out of control in Lagos, painting a nefarious
image of Nigeria’s commercial capital. For four consecutive days last
week, hoodlums, masquerading as political thugs, descended on Mushin and
Fadeyi areas. The deadly gangs attacked themselves, maimed and robbed
innocent people, sacked entire streets and destroyed cars. Businesses
and places of worship were hurriedly closed down as the gangsters
visited terror on the people.
The
hoodlums not only killed Sheriff Alasia, a lottery agent in Fadeyi,
they took anarchy to a new height by shooting dead a man, Tunde
Ibikunle, who they later beheaded in an apparent reprisal. They paraded
their bloody prize as if Lagos had become an ungoverned territory. “They
first riddled his body with bullets before beheading him. What we have
left here is his stump,” a resident said. It took four days for the
police to recover the severed head.
This
savagery belongs to the Hobbesian era, not the 21st Century. The thugs
had mobilised themselves from Ebute-Meta, Somolu, Bariga, moving to
Mushin to wreak havoc. Where were the police when this large army of
hoodlums were moving across the state unchecked?
For
a state eyeing a megacity status by 2020, this violence is a strong
disincentive. It scares investors. Governor Babatunde Fashola, who has
made hefty strides in the area of security, has been
uncharacteristically indecisive in dealing with this pervasive security
conundrum. He can still make amends by taking charge of the situation
directly. Fashola should use the might of the state to investigate,
prosecute and punish the offenders without letting politics becloud the
enforcement of the law.
The
governor should seize the initiative from the police, who appear to be
lethargic and helpless. Not minding the side of the political divide
that is instigating the violence, Fashola’s primary duty is to deliver
Lagos residents from the army of hoodlums bent on tainting all his hard
work of the past seven years.
Although the governor determinedly cleared Oshodi, which was once
notorious for traffic congestion, filth and crime, he scores poor marks
in the handling of the gangs holding Lagos residents to ransom. The
inaction is jeopardising his legacy and could prevent him from
concluding his tenure on a high note.
In
September, thugs killed one Azeez Asake, an official of the National
Union of Road Transport Workers, and two others shortly after a rally on
Lagos Island addressed by President Goodluck Jonathan. The best the
police have done since then is to carry out indiscriminate arrests of
innocent citizens. Two other people were also killed in related assaults
by the criminals. This is a long-standing trick of the police. It has
never worked.
Kayode
Aderanti, the new State Police Commissioner, has a huge task on his
hands. Aderanti should change tack. The job of a police chief is not to
issue empty threats, but to use novel investigative methods and the
coercive powers of the state to checkmate criminals.
Let
nobody be deceived about this threat: these marauders belong to
criminal gangs. Aderanti needs to unveil his agenda for taming these
ubiquitous gangs. Criminal gangs thrive in societies where government is
weak. But every serious city or state that has this kind of challenge
fashions a cogent response.
Early
this year, the London Metropolitan Police conducted a sting operation
that involved well armed and protected officers numbering about 200
against the most notorious crime syndicates in the English capital. The
Met has identified 250 criminal gangs in London, but through aggressive,
intelligence-driven schemes, street-level crime was brought down by 20
per cent in 2013.
The
police should shelve their image of helplessness. Through intelligence
gathering, modern methods, and profiling, they should identify the
troublemakers and go after them. Early this year, Chicago, an American
city in the state of Illinois notorious for gun crime and gangland wars,
moved into action to check the menace. The police launched a new
offensive by changing their tactics. The ploy worked as there is now a
significant reduction in killings and other violent crimes that gave the
state a bad name.
Violent
crime inhibits freedom, creates fear, constrains business activities
and innocent citizens suffer human and material losses. In coordination
with the state government, the police should fish out the terror gangs,
starting with the latest mayhem. This will put down the marker that the
police are capable of enforcing the law.
As
Lagos expands, the government must constantly think proactively of ways
to combat criminal gangs. As we have stated before, there is an urgent
need to carve out an anti-gang crime unit in the police that will be
assigned the task of preventing, investigating and rapidly responding to
gangland wars. It is an anomaly for street gangs to operate for hours
and days on end without an appropriate police response to take them out.
The criminal gangs should be identified and outlawed.
The governor has to find the will and courage to deal with these deviant souls by putting them where they belong – in jail.
