EXTORTION BY YOUTH GANGS. STRANGE TAXES TO RIFF-RAFFS, OR A BIZZAIRE VERSION OF THE "DOLE"?
Extortion by organized youth gangs is now an accepted way of life in Nigeria.
Rest assured of support by the political class, propped up by traditional chiefs and backed by corrupt policemen, the brazen antics of these gangs have gradually gained acceptance as the norm, and their activities taken with resigned equanimity!
Motor-park touts chase down commercial buses, beat up their operators, smash wind-shields and yank off wipers if not obliged as demanded.
The "Omo-Oniles" embody the youth wings of land-holding and land-peddling familes. You might be fully-equipped with all titular documents related to your parcel of land including the original purchase receipt, but you are still required to pay for all tiny phases of the construction....corner pieces, foundation, lintel, deck (paying again for foundation as they claim they sold only the ground to you, not the top!), second-level lintel, roofing, platering, soak-away pits, flooring, fencing and any other conceivable work you may do on your building.
They claim their parents sold the land to you, not them....and what you pay them are their own entitlements!
You see, such parents in utter prodigality, sell off all available family land hitherto preserved by countless generations....often for peanuts....not taking their offsprings into consideration....or factoring them into the equation!
So, such offsprings simply lie in wait for eventual buyers of the land to ambush them with extortionary tricks!
Your level of education, social status, connections or calling matters not....as even lawyers pay up promptly!
And God saves you if a contrary judgement later emanates from the courts signifying a change in ownership of this family land....instantly voiding all your claims and titles to the land.....lest the new owners start pasting notices on every structure to demand that you repurchase a land on which you already have a fully-erected building!
With the frequency of these judgement reversals, one wonders if deliberate loop-holes are not left in the retinue of owners and signatories to the initial document to pave way for such grounds for ownership reversal.....in collusion with the future litigant....a most ingenious scam!
They act with uncommon impunity and confidence knowing fully well that if you report them to the police, an illegal court would materialze there and then awarding "judgement" to the highest bidder, qualified lawyers soon appear to secure their release, calls may arrive from senior officers (including the Inspector-General of Police) ordering the DPO to hands-off the case because "he" has an "interest" in the matter. Use of the word INTEREST firmly signifies that the senior officer has been compromised! His bribe ranges from a few plots to tens of acres....depending on his rank and office!
And then there are corporate land thugs and touts who have over the years advanced in sophistry....recruiting youths (called "ajagungbales"), training them in terror tactics, renting arms and amunition to opposing parties....operating from air-conditioned offices with a full complement of lawyers and other professionals. Omo Ola and Bidin are notable examples on the Ikorodu axis. As visible as daylight, they brooking no fears, see no reason to hide from the "law"....which in some perverted way, is truly their friend!
These youth gangs have quite ingeniously perfected the art of arm-twisting hapless citizens to pay up our version of the "dole"
....an army of unemployed youths...
....not covered by any form of social security....
....by an insensitive government!
Dr Tosin Akindele is a Lagos-based Medical Practitioner, a former Secretary of AGPMPN Ikorodu zone, a former Secretary of the Quackery Committee of AGPMPN Lagos State Branch, founder of Analytical Minds, a good health advocate and public affairs analyst.