Area Boys shoot in Ijesha Lagos

A band of miscreants or street urchins popularly referred to as 'Area Boys' in local parlance, have laid siege on Ijesha-tedo, a Surulere suburb in Lagos, shooting sporadically and sending residents scampering for their lives.

The gun battle between rival 'area boys' factions rages on in Ilamoye, Ogundoju, Association Avenue, Ehi and Sanya streets--all in Ijesha--at the time of filing this story.

Residents say on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, at around 7pm, the miscreants began shooting into the air and looting shops on Ilamoye and Ogundoju as residents and shop owners took to their heels.

"They were shooting at everybody and at everything," one resident who craves anonymity for this story, tells Pulse. "People who owned shops had to run away, leaving their shops open. Then these area boys started looting the shops and hurling stones at cars."

Pulse has learnt that the area boys, most of whom reside near Salami off Ilamoye, returned the next day, February 17, in broad daylight to scare off residents, loot shops and damage cars parked on undulating, filthy and washed off streets in the Ijesha community, which lies just a couple of kilometers away from Nigeria's premier ports of Apapa and Tin Can on the busy Apapa-Oshodi expressway.

Area boys collects fees from trucks parked around Surulere and adjoining communities (Punch) Pulse Nigeria

"We are afraid for our lives right now. And as you can see, most shops here are now closed. We don't want to die. It's been a tough 2020 for most of us because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's sad that these thugs won't let us make some money to send our children to school and feed our families," a resident of Ilamoye who identifies herself as Chiamaka, tells Pulse.

Riot breaks out in Oshodi on Thursday, March 26, 2020 (NAN) ece-auto-gen

Pulse understands that the recent unrest in Ijesha stems off a battle for supremacy between rival 'area boys' factions over which group should collect illicit fees from articulated trucks parked around Sanya.

"One area boy called Segoe and his group have been the ones issuing tickets and collecting money from truck owners around Ilamoye and Sanya. But he's become too big for his own boots.

"Now, the other faction wants to teach him a lesson. So they have been shooting during the day and at night in an apparent show of force. It's all about rent-seeking," one mechanic on Adesina street in Ijesha tells Pulse.

"Two persons have been shot since the gun duel commenced. We don't know if they'll survive," he adds.

Troubled streets

The police spokesperson for Lagos, Adejobi Olumuyiwa, was not immediately available for comments for this story when Pulse reached out to him via phone.

A detachment of police officers from the Ijesha police station have been unable to quash the gang war, Pulse was told.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP), Hakeem Odumosu (M). [Twitter/@malikandu] Pulse Nigeria

Cult and gang clashes are commonplace on the streets of Lagos' densely populated, chaotic and rudderless suburbs.

Law and order have all but broken down in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital and most populous city, since #EndSARS protesters took to major streets across the country to demand for an end to decades of police brutality and extra-judicial killings.

Crime and robbery have always been rife in Ilamoye, Sanya and adjoining streets in Ijesha.

"There has never been any sign of governance here since I moved into this wretched neighborhood five years ago," one resident of Ilamoye tells Pulse, hands thrown in the air in despair.