There is palpable fear in Lagos right now. Everyone is talking about the menace of the Okada riders, particularly those of the northern stock. Everywhere you turn in Lagos, you will find colonies of scraggy looking Hausa/Fulani boys riding okada. Expectedly, many of them are not very skilled at driving motorbikes. Riding with them can sometimes be as bad as being on a suicide trip. And they have the most reckless disregard for traffic laws, little wonder why the rate of Okada accidents keeps shooting up in the state. Every passing day, these young men are loaded in their hundreds inside trucks and trailers coming from the northern part of the country to Lagos, ostensibly in search of greener pastures. Oftentimes, they are loaded inside these trucks with dozens of motorbikes or Okada as we prefer to call it in these parts. And the more they come into the state, the more Lagos has been at the mercy of reckless Okada riders with more Okada deaths and accidents on our roads. But now, in the last couple of years, the situation has grown from bad to worse. Things have taken on a new twist and right now, we are no longer talking about their recklessness on the road and the accidents they cause alone, now we’re talking about something much more serious, something much more sinister.
Recent intelligence reports are starting to show that there is a lot more to this invasion of Lagos by northerners than meets the eye. It has since been discovered that it is not only young men of Hausa Fulani extraction that are invading Lagos on a daily basis, young boys from Niger, Chad, Mali and the likes are now coming into Lagos in droves too, swelling the number of these foreign-looking aliens in our midst. But that is not where the problem ends. Investigations and developments are starting to reveal that these people are not in Lagos to ride Okada only, they have other sinister plans.
According to the Lagos state government, many of these boys are criminals who disguise themselves as Okada riders seeking an honest living. Some of them are also run away bandits or terrorists from the north who have come to Lagos to help their leaders and sponsors strengthen their base in Lagos. So, out of desperation to survive on the meagre funds allocated to them, they rob innocent passengers of their belongings and sometimes leave them gravely maimed or killed. Some have been caught in the act by the police while others have been luckier, escaping the long arms of the Law. But what many have found astonishing is the heavy volume of weaponry often found with these ‘foreigners.’ They hide guns in the calibre of AK-47 under the seats of their bikes while dozens of such firearms are stashed in their sacks under the bridges or in shacks where they lay their heads. Time and time again, the police and other arms of the security agencies have intercepted hundreds of firearms coming into Lagos while many of these foreign Okada riders are being caught in possession of these dangerous arms almost on a daily basis. Now, it has become crystal clear that these boys are not here to quietly and legitimately earn their living as bike riders, there is a bigger plot in the works.
Before now, several security reports have found their way into the media space, sounding it loud and clear that many of these boys are already being recruited as terrorists and bandits and are currently helping their masters build a growing base of Boko Haram fighters and a powerful banditry gang that would soon be unleashed on Lagosians. While the security agencies are not dismissing this report, many Lagosians took it with a pinch of salt, believing these criminal elements could never infiltrate Lagos. But we are now seeing that this was nothing but an illusion, what we thought was impossible is now starting to look possible.
Just a couple of weeks ago, an Oodua group raised the alarm that they have an intelligence report revealing that many of the Okada riders and even the Hausa/Fulani beggars in Lagos are part of a cartel helping to raise funds from their proceeds to set up strong banditry and terrorist force in Lagos. This piece of information has sent shock waves to concerned Lagosians, especially the Lagos state government who, we hear, is leaving no stone unturned to uncover the catastrophic plans of these criminal elements. This piece of information by the Oodua group has not exactly come as a huge shock to those who have been closely monitoring the activities of these people. Unknown to many, they are a far more organized group of people than they seem to appear. They have elected leaders among them who coordinate their affairs, keep them working in synergy, settle disputes that may arise amongst them, and ensures funds raised for their collective good are secured and used judiciously for the purpose they were raised for. Even the female beggars have their own leaders who organize them, keep them together, manage issues and elect whoever will take charge of their finances. With all of these already in place, it will be easy for them to align with their boys when it is time to unleash mayhem on the city of Lagos as we saw during the Endsars crisis. According to unofficial police reports, investigations have shown that many of the hoodlums who wreaked havoc on the city were foreign mercenaries, a mixture of Chadians, Nigeriene, Hausa/Fulani, Malians and the sorts. What no one knows yet is when they will strike and why they will strike, but one thing is certain, they will strike.
Less than two weeks ago, a video in which a young man, David Imoh was lynched and killed went viral/ He was killed by a group of northern Okada riders over an argument involving the riders and his friends who were the actual passengers of the Okada riders conveyed. The lynching of a Lagosian by foreign Okada riders in Lekki and right in the open glare of the public? It was unthinkable, yet it happened. Following the public outburst and the cry of the dead man’s widow, the state government swung into action and pressured the police and security agencies to fish out the perpetrators. But many were stunned when the police announced it had made some arrests and the names of the arrested suspects were released to the public. The composition of the names left many absolutely speechless. There were about three Igbo names, a Yoruba, one Hausa and a lady whose involvement in the whole lynching saga is yet to be ascertained because there was no lady involved in the video that went viral. Immediately the names were released, questions started filtering in from everywhere and suspicions of some cover-up began to mount. Why would about three Igbo men and a Yoruba man join a Hausa to kill David Imoh who was not even alleged to have been an armed robber, for that was the only possible reason why the coming together of these strange bedfellows could make any sense. But that was not the case. David Imoh was no armed robber or a ritualist or kidnapper, he was a responsible man who earned his living and fed his small family from his earnings as a sound engineer.
While discerning minds were still trying to unravel the mystery behind the strange composition of the names of the arrested suspects, a young man who claims to be a DSS operative went on social media and shocked everyone. He claimed he was the leader of the team that arrested the killers of David Imoh and that his conscience has not let him be at peace with himself because the people he and his team arrested are not the same people the police are now parading as the killers of David Imoh. He listed the names of the suspects he and his team arrested and they were all northerners, including a few names that sounded like that of Chadians or Nigeriene. He also revealed that from the moment they arrested the suspects, he had been receiving calls from highly placed Nigerians from the north, including Emirs, demanding the immediate release of the suspects. And there were several threats to his life as well. Eventually, an order came from above in Abuja and they were ordered to hand over the suspects to the police and the next thing he saw was the strange-looking names of the suspected killers of David Imoh. So, this clearly establishes one fact, that these guys have got the backing of the powers that be and so can wreak as much havoc as they so desire and nothing will happen. They will enjoy the protection of their fathers and leaders up north and that will be the end of the story. Did somebody say Lagosians are in deep trouble? You can say that again.
Clearly, there is a grand plot by these unscrupulous elements to overrun Lagos like they almost did during the Endsars madness. Lagosians know this and every day they live in fear of this nightmare possibly happening. As it is now, the entire state is loaded to the hilt with these bandits and terrorists in disguise. Lagosians are surrounded by potential killers, as evident in the killing of David Imoh right in the glare of the public in Lekki. Are Lagosians safe anymore? Can the government guarantee the citizens that these criminals will not prevail at the end of the day? The people and the government of Lagos are sitting on a time bomb, it will take nothing short of a miracle for this bomb not to explode.
-WALE LAWAL
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