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How ‘Awala Boys’ killed 43-year-old YABATECH graduate three months to his wedding in Lagos

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PETER Greg Edogbeji
PETER Greg Edogbeji


Witnesses and friends have narrated the events that led to the killing of a 43-year-old Yaba College of Technology, Lagos (YABATECH), Peter Greg Edogbeji, by hoodlums.

Prior to his death, the deceased lived in Ajegunle, a densely populated suburb of Lagos State. He worked as a photographer and also acted as the general secretary of one of the neighbourhood vigilantes which sprung up across Lagos State following the COVID-19 lockdown and the activities of hoodlums, such as the One Million Boys. The hoodlums were terrorising the states robbing and maiming their victims.

On the fateful day, Tuesday, 24 March 2020, Edogbeji went about his daily activities without any incident. However, while returning home after the day’s work he was said to have walked innocently into the hands of hoodlums, who at the time were attacking and robbing people of their valuables.

He ended up as a fatality.

It was gathered that one Sikiru Olusanya, the chair of the neighbourhood vigilante where Edogbeji was the scribe, was with him when he was killed.

Speaking in a The Tribune report, Olusanya said Edogbeji and him left a popular shopping plaza in Ajegunle, Ajeromi Plaza, after a brief meeting with some persons. Olusanya offered to convey Edogbeji to Boundary Bus Stop in his car from where he would journey further to Ejigbo, another Lagos suburb.

However, on their crisis struck.

“On our way, we heard some noise and sighted some boys in an open field moving around with dangerous weapons and people running in different directions. We then saw the Baale of Oke-ira, Taiye Layeni and asked him what was happening,” Tribune quoted him as saying.

“Peter, at that point, came down from the car and followed the Baale while I was trying to get a safe place to park. I heard the baale calling the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the area on phone to draw his attention to the incident, but they had almost gone out of sight by the time I finished parking.

“Not long after, some policemen came with their vehicle, but they turned back almost immediately without either coming near the scene or firing any bullet, even to scare and disperse the hoodlums.

“Yet, some of the hoodlums ran away and escaped through a narrow walkway nearby without knowing that others had laid ambush for their victims because I could see from a distance that somebody was being attacked. I didn’t know that the person was Peter. I thought it was somebody else because I could never have envisaged such.

“Something told me at that moment to leave the vicinity as it was already getting dark. And just as I had wanted to leave, a combined team of OPMESA and the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS) arrived. But the deed had been done. Peter had been macheted mostly on the head and in a manner that he would not survive. The baale was also attacked, but he escaped.”

The paper said a CCTV footage showed the hoodlums, said to be members of Awala Boys, hacking him with machetes until he fell to the ground. They dispersed but later came back to inflict another round of cuts on him probably to ensure he did not survive.

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Awala Boys are a terror syndicate that once specialised in using motorcycles to rob people of their valuables, including phones and use SIM cards to hack into people’s bank accounts.

As of the time of attack, Edogbeji had on him a smartphone and one other small phone. The smartphone was stolen while the other phone was later found on the ground by a female resident.

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Edogbeji’s elder brother, Henry, said he learned of his sibling’s gruesome death through his neighbour who contacted him over the phone.

Henry said that they were orphans, adding that Edogbeji was preparing for his wedding.

He also stated that as part of Peter’s preparations, he had secured a room and a parlour self-contained apartment in Ikotun, though he was yet to move in fully, he was already spending weekends there.

“The person who called me didn’t tell me that my brother had been killed. He only told me they didn’t know his whereabouts. I then informed my younger sister and we both came to his house, which is our family house,” Tribune quoted Henry as saying.

“On getting there, they said they heard from people in the community that some residents were attacked by hoodlums and that it was bloody but that they didn’t know the identities of those involved.

“That was how we went to Layeni Police Station and discovered he was the person attacked. I learnt he was still alive when the policemen carried him from the scene to the hospital where he died same day. The way my brother was macheted did not portray his assailants as human beings. They are simply heartless persons. My brother died a painful death.”

The paper wrote,

According to Henry, Peter would have had his wedding introduction by the end of April but for the coronavirus pandemic, while his traditional wedding was fixed for three months’ time. The events were never to be and his remains were buried on Saturday, April 18, in Lagos.

Henry wants justice and an end to activities of hoodlums in Ajegunle and other communities.

“Otherwise if his killers should come back to the community without justice meted out, they would do worse things and others with evil intentions in Ajegunle and elsewhere would do similar thing, in the belief that they will also go unpunished.

“So, security agents should stand up and live up to its responsibility of protecting lives and properties of innocent citizens anywhere they choose to live in the country and also punish those who take innocent lives.

“People must be able to move freely in the streets and sleep with their two eyes closed at night. How could a group of young boys be terrorizing innocent people even in the daylight when security agents are there?

According to investigations, however, it was revealed that most of the hoodlums were known faces in the community with the residents doing all they could to curb their activities.

Reacting to the incident, spokesman for the Lagos police command, Mr Elkana Bala, a superintendent of police, said the Awala Boys, the suspected group that murdered Peter are well known to residents who had refused to be cowed by their threats.

Part of their efforts, according to him, is the formation of a security committee under the community policing initiative through which they help the police and other security operatives including OPMESA and DSS with useful information, noting that the efforts are yielding results.

Bala said two suspects had been arrested and charged to court while other partners in crime identified in the CCTV footage are currently at large.

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