List of Most Notorious Armed Robbers in Nigeria’s History has been compiled by this reporter.
Armed robbery, which has been popular in Nigeria since the 1970s, is still a criminal act that puts people’s lives and property in peril. Despite the fact that armed robbery has been justified by a lack of employment, poor income, inflation, police problems, underdeveloped infrastructure, and changes in societal norms, it is still a crime punishable by law.
According to criminal records, these well-known Nigerian robbers caused security officers headaches before they were apprehended. They terrorized the surrounding areas while simultaneously being wealthy, wreaking havoc wherever they went. Continue reading to learn more about Notorious Armed Robbers in Nigeria’s History.
NOTABLE MENTIONS:
- Evans
- Henry Ekponwan
- Isiaka Busari ( also known as Might Joe)
- Smallie
- Allaji Zed Zed (also known as Zegege)
- Ogochukwu Mbisike (also known as Ogogo)
- Ifeanyi Nwakwo (also known as 2 mins)
- Adeniyi Ajayi
- Okwudi Ndiwe (also known as Derico)
- Shina Rambo
- Oyenusi
- Babatunde Folorunsho
- Obidiozor Otokoto
- Kayode Williams
SHINA RAMBO
Those who had been attacked by Shina Rambo before would never forget him. He shares characteristics with other well-known criminals, and he was also an armed robber. He and his squad were said to be capable of looting a whole highway, according to history.
Meanwhile, some sources claim he died during surgery, while others believe he died naturally. He was endowed with charm and dark magic for protection. He was recognized as a demi-god while driving on busy roadways. Until he came face to face with his waterloo.
MONDAY OSUNBOR
The notorious Lawrence Anini’s deputy was Monday. They staged bank invasion, automobile hijacking, and highway robbery in Benin City in 1986 as members of the Anini armed robbery organization. Lawrence Anini’s trial has been linked to him, and he is being prosecuted for his crimes. He was put to death for his crime.
DERICO NWANMAMA
King of the Underworld Derico Nwanmama, real name Okwudili Ndiwe, was crowned. Residents of Onitsha, a commercial center in Anambra State, took the brunt of his wrath.
Derico is accused of killing around 100 individuals, including approximately 25 police officers, according to reports. He was known as a vicious armed robber who worked alongside gang members to rob buses. The Anambra State Police Command captured Derico and his gang mates. While some of his followers were arrested, the leader escaped.
ADEGOKE SHOGO
Shogo was born in the state of Kwara, in the state of Offa. He was apprehended for his role in the well-known Offa multiple bank heist and police station attack on May 5, 2018. The Offa tragedy claimed the lives of seventeen people, including eight police officers.
However, as a member of the Bakassi Boys, a well-known vigilante service group created to fight crime in the South East, he did not run for a long time. Authorities arrested the dangerous criminal in 2001. The Bakassi Boys paraded Derico Nwanmama around Onitsha before killing him in an open area.
OYENUSI ISHOLA
The country’s first known armed robber was Doctor Ishola Oyenusi. Soon after the Civil War ended in 1970, he swept the country, committing innumerable atrocities and acts of terrorism against humanity. No one imagined The Doctor, as he was called, would be arrested before he was executed in 1971 in front of 30,000 Nigerians at the famed Bar Beach event. “The bullet has no power on me,” Ishola Oyenusi said when he was at the zenith of his power.
Ishola Oyenusi began committing robberies in 1959, but his first significant crime occurred in Yaba, Lagos, when he snatched a car on Herbert Macaulay Road and killed the owner, all because his fiancée was broke and needed money to buy make-up.
In March 1971, he was caught during a robbery in Ikeja, Lagos. Doctor Ishola Oyenusi’s execution was welcomed by relieved Nigerians who flocked to Lagos’s Bar Beach to see the end of a man who had held the country hostage. He kept smiling while being strapped to the drum for death. He smiled all the way to the grave.
LAWRENCE ANINI
Anini, a thief who terrorized the Bendel state, which is now Edo, in the 1960s, was also a notorious thief. In the 1980s, he mostly terrorized Benin City, the state capital, but his robbery became a national issue in 1986. Deputy Superintendent of Police George Iyamu was their arrowhead, and he had an informant who supplied him information.
In Benin’s motor parks, Anini, also known as ‘The Law’ or ‘Ovbigbo,’ was famed for being able to control the different competing interests of motor park touts. As a driver and transporter, he quickly advanced through the ranks of gangs, criminal godfathers, and thieves. Later, he founded his own gang and spread beyond Benin’s borders to the east and north.
He was known to have slain nine police officers in three months. Kayode Uanreroro, the Superintendent of Police, put an end to Anini’s reign of terror after multiple hunts. Anini was caught in 1986, on the 3rd of December
Uanreroro shot Anini’s right toes and left ankle in an attempt to flee, and he was sent to a military hospital and had one of his legs amputated. Police recovered a variety of charms.
Anini was confined to a wheelchair throughout his trial due to the amputation of his leg. “Anini will long be remembered in the history of crime in this country, but it will be of unblessed remembrance,” Justice Omo-Agege said in his decision. Few, if any, people would give the name to their offspring.” On March 29, 1987, he was executed.
ISIAKA BUSARI (MIGHTY JOE)
Mighty Joe entered the criminal scene shortly after the death of Oyenusi, just when Nigerians thought they were free of criminal deeds. Unlike the aforementioned, Mighty Joe’s group featured ex-soldiers who were experts with firearms. He not only stole and killed in the South West, but he also kidnapped people. He was said to be more lethal than Oyenusi. His capture, on the other hand, did not require much effort because he was recognized by one of his victims, who contacted the police. He was apprehended by police and later executed.
FRIDAY OFEGE
Ofege was a member of the Anini gang, which terrorized Benin in 1986. Car hijacking, bank robbery, and bus robbery were among the crimes committed by the Anini gang. Some unscrupulous police officers backed them up. The other gang was discovered and had to pay for their crimes at Anini’s trial.
ABIODUN EGUNJOBI
Abiodun Egunjobi, alias Godogodo, a 36-year-old slum youth who rose from the slums to become the leader of a gang that defied logic by striking with precise accuracy, killing without mercy, and terrorizing Lagos and the south-west with reckless abandon.
He ascended through the ranks of a gang of thieves that wrecked devastation across Lagos State and parts of Ogun, where his crimes were committed, beginning in the slums of Abule Egba.
Godogodo and his gang rose to prominence as a result of their illicit activities, landing them on the Police Department’s Most Wanted List. During his armed robbery activities, he is claimed to have killed over a hundred police officers as well as a considerable number of civilians. He was captured on August 1, 2013, after escaping officials in the United States for more than a decade.
OBIDIOZOR OTOKOTO
Chief Vincent Douro, better known as Otokoto, was charged with humiliating ritual murder. When he died, his son, Obidiozor Duru, reigned as king of the dreaded Black Secret sect, which was responsible for thefts and kidnappings of children in Owerri, Imo. Following suspicions about the Otokoto family’s malign actions, the city of Owerri placed the Otokoto family under surveillance and radar.
“There is no smoke without fire,” as the proverb goes. Even when the wind blows, the bird’s airways stay clear. Otokoto was charged on September 19, 1996. Outside, filthy linens are being washed, and the elegant hotel, the Otokoto Hotel, is being dismantled. A ritualist who robs and murders people for ritualistic purposes, as well as a hitman, abduction, loan sharking, and other illicit activities. He is of Igbo descent.
INSPECTOR GEORGE IYAMU
He was the senior cop who helped Anini’s career succeed. He was a high-ranking armed robber dressed in a police outfit. He provided intelligence and weapons to Anini’s group. He was the third member of Anini’s Gang and the seventh in Nigeria’s Armed Robbers history book.
OBINNA ELAH
Elah was an infamous armed robber and kidnapper who terrorized a number of Nigerian states in the southeast. He was a member of Henry Chibueze’s group, another armed robber known for his heinous crimes.
After a botched effort to free Henry Chibueze from Owerri High Court in May 2017, he as well as other members of the gang were captured.
AZEEZ ABDULLAHI
Azeez is from Offa in the state of Kwara. He was a member of the armed robbery gang that carried out a series of bank robberies in Offa, Kwara State, killing seventeen people and eight police officers from the Owode Division.
GRACIOUS WEST
Gracious David West, also known as the Port Harcourt Serial Killer, is said to have had a difficult childhood. He stated that his mother had been poisoned and that as his father’s only son, much was expected of him, but he was unable to provide. As a result, he became involved in criminal activity.
He was a member of Deebham, a fraternity known in Nigeria for committing acts of violence and mayhem. His method of operation was always the same. Every night, he scouts for girls at local clubs in Port Harcourt. He lures them to a local motel in a city suburb, sleeps with them, and suffocates them to death.
His victims were invariably discovered with white cloth wrapped around their legs. Gracious admitted to killing at least 15 women in three months prior to his arrest on September 19, 2019, while attempting to depart the city of Port Harcourt.
KAYODE WILLIAMS
Kayode Williams was a lethal armed robber who allegedly killed people without hesitation. While confessing to his crime, Kayode Williams detailed how he hammered babies for spiritual fortification. Kayode Williams became a Christian while incarcerated for more than ten years. That is, after committing multiple crimes against humanity, he was sentenced to life in prison, but after ten years in prison, he became a converted Christian and a born-again Christian.
AZEEZ SALAWUDEEN
Azeez was a member of the armed robbery team that committed the legendary Offa robbery in May 2008. Later that day, he was arrested.
ISA JIMOH
Okene, Kogi State, is where Jimoh was born. The notorious armed robber was detained in connection with the Offa bank heist that occurred in May 2018.
CONCLUSION
The above names are List of Most Notorious Armed Robbers in Nigeria’s History gathered from different sources on the internet space.
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