Opinion: Lagos Groan Under ‘Smash & Grab’ Crime

By Charles Ebun-Amu

Since the advent of the new dispensation under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the spate of crime has definitely taken a new dimension in Lagos State. Lagosians are now worse-off, reeling and groaning under the yoke of merciless ‘smash and grab’ robbers. Needless to say every car owner, or driver is a sitting duck. And by the way, the endless stream of heavy (ungodly) vehicular traffic in the Lagos metropolis has not helped the matter.

Lagosians wake up every morning to gory tales of fresh ‘smash and grab’ incidents; from Iyana Ipaja, Ojodu/Berger, Allen Avenue, Oshodi, Western Avenue, Apapa, Dolphin Bye-Pass, Ozumba Mbadiwe, all the way to Ajah….you name it. It is bad news, and scary. Bad enough for full-grown adults, and worse when you have children in the car. The hoodlums rule. They are brazenly smashing car windows and dispossessing innocent citizens of their valuable belongings and goods, with impunity. Most people have lost faith in the police, and I do not blame them.

There is no telling what psychological, physical, and mental pain these victims are made to endure. The irony is that most times the cost of the criminal damages resulting from these assaults far exceed the stolen goods involved. One begins to wonder why anyone in their right mind would go the whole hog to break car windows, all in an attempt to steal a mere mobile phone…or perhaps whatever may be in the car for grabs (which could well be nothing)!!! Amidst this whole terror, you could almost detect a streak of vindictiveness and vengeance…a message supposedly from the ‘poor to the rich’. The shaken victims are often left with shattered glasses and mindless damage to their vehicles. Quite often when this happens, before you know it everyone around you has disappeared, leaving you to bear the full wrath. Suddenly the traffic jam fizzles away, and many take to their heels abandoning their vehicles. Worse still the police is NEVER anywhere to be found. It is sad, and heart-wrenching. No one deserves to go through this trauma. The daily stress of living in Lagos is enough to contend with. This is nothing but a state of ANOMIE !!!

What really makes me sick is the fact that our police and law enforcement officials seem to feel the solution to this saga is far fetched. It is not. With a bit of research and professional expertise, our police could very easily contain this ugly spate of crime and make it a thing of the past in Lagos. These criminals are organized opportunists. Call them ‘syndicates’, if you like.They are not the usual lone-ranger/petty street criminals that you used to know. They are not local off-springs/rustics from the various localities where the crimes seem to be taking place. They are not the types who commit crime and disappear into the immediate environment. They are now more mobile, structured and versatile. To my mind, and from a professional stand-point, these are a group of organized syndicates, with a central command structure who are designated to operate at different parts of the State on different days. They are justifying, rationalizing and professionalizing their crime, and seem to take pride in what they are doing. They seem to feel that society owe it to them. This is why it is easy to see a glaring similarity in their MO (modus operandi). Petty crime has evolved over the years in Nigeria in the same way as bank robberies, where you have robbers who come all the way from say Ondo State to carry out operations in Lagos…and return. The do not owe you and I any moral debt or obligation. That is why they are so brazen, and are ready to inflict pain. It is corollary to killing a fly with a sledge hammer.

Crime is generally dynamic in nature. The earlier our police start to see the intricate nature of this new wave of crime, the earlier they will get round it. The interesting thing is that it is much easier and less time consuming to smash a syndicate than to smash a crime of haphazard character. The operations of syndicate criminals are more predictable and surgical, than collateral in nature. A syndicate, with its central command, is more stream-lined. Once a segment of it is penetrated by police, and cracked, the whole structure is likely to crumble. This is what is needed to quell the present spate of crime in Lagos State, and our police must wake up to its responsibility as Christmas approaches.

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Article written by Charles Ebun-Amu (UK based Criminologist).

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