Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini wasn’t just a name for some bandit whose deadly exploits in robbery shock the ancient Benin City to its foundation. Anini was one man who delivered 20 men’s strikes in a body, in banditry. With not very much to his educational background being exposed, let’s have it that some people grow intelligence if they want.
He was executed at 27, a stage in one’s life where it would seem the height of glory is emerging for some people. Edo State hadn’t very much in its giving to Nigeria, if Anini was used a standard. If we have one youth whose terrible escapades made history, that soul is certainly Larence Anini –but bad isn’t acceptable.
He started as a taxi driver to earn a living, gradually coming into “his calling”, he sought to take his driving skill to the next level by incorporating an extra business bloomer. Anini took to high jacking cars and reselling them to make money – another pick up idea he learned as an apprentice to those who got him to drive them for the same reason: steal cars.
One seeks to grow out of their space sometimes, especially when you can manage to herd a group. Such was what the esteemed criminal, Anini delved into, hence, growing a gang. Anini is the name he was mostly known by, but Lawrence would give him a respectable outlook if we overlooked his “known for” for one tiny second and reverend him as an antagonistic hero.
His terrorism rose and Benin could not curtail him, not even the Police or the governments. His worth escalated and the policing force suffered brutal responses from hunting him as he went about his business for some sort of agreement that requested the police to side him as they collected bribe as compensation. The agreement, breached by the security agency sparked hit backs that cost lives.
Anini became a threat. His ways couldn’t be understood as much as he couldn’t be found. He was some demon who could escape a scene and he left no traces. Strong charms were cooked for his disappearance and invisibility. Either he was apprehended alive or death, it didn’t matter anymore. Whatever it took, it wasn’t as expensive as the damage he wrecked on the residents of Benin. Such a man was a horror in the day and some other synonym for horror at night.
There comes a time when a thing comes to an end. Anini’s abduction was cheap. This will not only refer us to the fall of Adam and Samson, but it will always show that little ways can be effective to the destruction of a mighty object. A woman may be little or harmless, but her venom is only for the destruction of man.
His girlfriend, in alliance with the police, set him up. The great bandit Anini was taken down in 1867, short on a leg. Such was the bandit who likened himself to “Robin Hood”; the man who got Nollywood to reenact his life story without asking.
Readers, please feel free to nominate the next legend you want us to write about. Your choice is our choice