Despite repeated government crackdowns and arrests, hoodlums popularly known as area boys continue to terrorise motorists along the Lekki-Epe Expressway, one of Lagos’ busiest road corridors, VICTOR AYENI writes

The Lekki-Epe Expressway, which runs through Eti-Osa Local Government Area, is one of Lagos State’s busiest road corridors, serving as the main gateway to the rapidly expanding Lekki Peninsula.

Stretching from Lekki through Ajah and Sangotedo to Epe, the highway links sprawling residential estates, commercial centres, tourist destinations and emerging industrial hubs. Every day, thousands of commuters, business owners, schoolchildren and visitors rely on the corridor, making it one of the state’s most heavily travelled routes.

But beneath the glittering skyline of luxury estates, shopping malls and high-rise developments lies a growing menace that has turned daily commuting into an ordeal for many motorists.

Residents and regular road users have raised the alarm over the activities of hoodlums who extort motorists and attack vehicles with stones, sticks and other objects whenever drivers refuse to part with money.

Some residents who spoke with Sunday PUNCH said touts, popularly known as agberos, alongside other hoodlums, have turned several sections of the Lekki-Epe Expressway into extortion points where motorists are forced to “settle” them before being allowed to pass unhindered.

Findings by Sunday PUNCH showed that the hotspots are concentrated around Marwa Bus Stop, Victoria Garden City, Ikota, Ilaje, Abraham Adesanya and Freedom Way, all located along the Lekki-Epe corridor.

The hoodlums are said to target motorists, particularly during the morning and evening rush hours when traffic builds up, and vehicles are trapped for long periods.

Residents said the situation becomes worse whenever a vehicle develops a fault or is involved in a minor accident, as the hoodlums quickly surround the driver and demand what they describe as “settlement”, with some victims allegedly forced to part with hundreds of thousands of naira.

To ensure motorists have little choice but to comply, some of the hoodlums deliberately create artificial traffic bottlenecks by rolling discarded tyres onto the road, forcing vehicles to slow down or stop completely.

Drivers who refuse to pay, residents alleged, often have their vehicles attacked with heavy stones, sticks or even machetes, leaving many with damaged windscreens, dented body panels and shattered side mirrors.

Last week, a video posted by Object TV Media on Facebook showed some of the hoodlums placing discarded tyres and other debris across the expressway to deliberately create gridlock before demanding money from trapped motorists.

Checks by Sunday PUNCH identified the location captured in the viral video as the bridge currently under construction at the VGC section of the Lekki-Epe Expressway.

A visit triggers hoodlums’ anger

VGC is widely regarded as one of the most prominent residential and commercial corridors on the Lekki Peninsula, located about 30 minutes from Victoria Island.

With its well-paved roads, gated estates and upscale developments, the area serves as a major gateway linking Ikota, Ajah and neighbouring communities.

Ironically, its reputation as an affluent corridor has also made it a lucrative hunting ground for street urchins, who swarm the area daily to extort money from motorists caught in traffic.

When Sunday PUNCH visited the location on Wednesday at about 11.15 a.m., the tyres seen in the viral video had been removed, but the hoodlums remained on duty beneath the overhead bridge.

They paid little attention to commercial buses but routinely flagged down private vehicles travelling towards Ikota or making U-turns beneath the bridge.

A series of white barricades positioned beneath the bridge forced motorists to slow down, creating yet another convenient collection point.

With each approaching vehicle, there appeared to be an unwritten understanding that N500 or N1,000 notes would exchange hands. Many motorists already had the money ready before reaching the hoodlums.

The men would first exchange greetings with the driver, carefully observing the response before stretching out their hands to receive the cash.

Further observations showed that some members of the group disguised themselves as ordinary pedestrians, positioning themselves several metres away from the main collectors.

Their role appeared to be surveillance. They constantly monitored the surroundings for anyone attempting to take photographs, record videos or, worse still, security operatives approaching the scene.

“What are you doing here?” one of the hoodlums barked after grabbing this reporter by the shoulder from behind when he noticed photographs being taken.

After being told that the photographs were of the unfinished VGC bridge, the man demanded to inspect them.

Within minutes, five other hoodlums abandoned the road and converged beneath the bridge, insisting that this reporter explain why he was taking photographs.

“Are you from Lagos State to report and arrest us? You people are from the government, spying on our boys so you can remove us from here like you did before, isn’t that so?” one of them asked in Yoruba.

Only after they became convinced that the photographs were for an architectural project did they allow this reporter to leave and resume their extortion activities.

During the visit, Sunday PUNCH observed that motorists who refused to hand over money or kept their windows wound up often had their vehicles struck with fists or the sticks carried by the hoodlums.

Residents allege complicity

Residents familiar with the route described the hoodlums as particularly aggressive during rush hours when workers are heading to or returning from work.

“They will hit your vehicle with stones or sticks. They have damaged my car before. These boys have turned themselves into overlords here, and people simply pay them to avoid trouble. That VGC axis where you saw them is between two police stations, Ajiwe and Ikota,” an Ikota resident, James Ugbede, said.

Another resident, who identified herself simply as Mrs Funke, said she drives through the corridor daily, adding that the hoodlums also prey on pedestrians and motorists whose vehicles break down.

“If your car breaks down here, these Omotakus will surround you and demand money or threaten to damage your vehicle. They take advantage of people’s vulnerability. The least they usually demand is N10, 000 If your vehicle develops a fault.

“Whenever I pass through this corridor, I feel anxious because I don’t know what to expect. Traffic is almost constant here, so if your vehicle slows down, you can easily become their victim.

“This axis is unsafe. This has been going on for years. We have cried out on social media and held community meetings, but nothing has changed. I believe many of these boys are under the influence of drugs because they have become terrorists on these roads,” she said.

An e-hailing driver, Edward Anyaele, who frequently plies the route, lamented what he described as the dominance of hoodlums from Lekki to Ajah.

“Ajah is dominated by thugs, but the police cannot do anything about it. These boys deliberately damage parts of the road to create illegal U-turns, where they collect N500 from motorists. Even the U-turns constructed by the state government are blocked with tyres.

“They dig up sections of the road at night so traffic will build up during the day. Once you approach them, their usual slogan is, ‘Owo da?’ (Where’s your money?). They are union and local government thugs,” Anyaele alleged.

Expressing his frustration, a software developer who lives in the area, Solomon Muoka, said he nearly knocked down one of the hoodlums while returning from the beach one evening.

“They blocked the road and demanded money, but when I realised they were touts, I refused to give them anything. They said I wouldn’t pass. That day, I was ready to kill them for their parents! I had a friend with me; otherwise, I was about to lose it.

“Ajiwe Police and Eti-Osa Local Government are complicit in these activities. They can’t pretend not to know. You have thugs extorting people and selling drugs openly on the streets of Ikota, yet they are doing nothing about it, probably because the thugs remit this money to them. They need to stop this,” Muoka alleged.

Celebrities not spared

The menace has not spared celebrities.

In April, Afrobeats artiste, Marvin Ukanigbe, popularly known as Mavo, also fell victim to the growing wave of street extortion by hoodlums on Lagos Island.

A video shared by the singer on his Snapchat account on April 21 and seen by Sunday PUNCH captured the tense encounter as he drove through a street.

In the footage, about five suspected area boys surrounded his moving vehicle after reportedly demanding “appreciation” from him. The situation quickly escalated when Mavo declined their request.

One of the hoodlums was seen charging towards the vehicle while others trailed it. As the artiste attempted to drive away, one of the men angrily hurled a stone at the bonnet of his Prado SUV while others allegedly pelted the vehicle with objects.

“See cruise,” Mavo could be heard saying amid the commotion, while another occupant of the vehicle exclaimed, “Won’t you park this car on this road?”

The artiste later shared updates on his Snapchat account, suggesting that some of the suspects involved in the attack were apprehended after he and members of his team confronted them.

However, Sunday PUNCH could not independently verify whether the suspects were arrested by the police.

A month earlier, a content creator and TikTok streamer, Habeeb Hamzat, popularly known as Peller, had a similar experience.

In a video of the incident posted on X by Bigg Kenny (@KCnotlimpopo), a hoodlum was seen throwing a stone at Peller’s vehicle while he was caught in traffic along the Lekki-Epe Expressway.

Peller, who was livestreaming at the time, appeared visibly startled by the impact and reacted angrily as the suspect fled.

“Lagos no be real place,” Peller said in Pidgin English after hurling curses at the fleeing suspect. “I watch Netflix live and direct for this place. Dem dey beg for money, and if you no give dem money, dem wan kill you.”

Shortly after Peller’s vehicle was attacked, skit maker and TikTok influencer, Samuel Bankole, popularly known as Samuel Banks, also alleged that hoodlums damaged his vehicle along the Lekki-Epe Expressway after he refused to give them money.

In a video posted on X by @Cleverlydey4u, one of the hoodlums could be seen seated on the ground behind the vehicle, apparently pleading, while another individual believed to be part of Banks’ security team reprimanded him.

Although the footage did not capture the alleged damage to the vehicle, Banks could be heard lamenting that his car had been vandalised because he refused to meet the hoodlums’ demands.

“You, I will use you as a scapegoat,” Banks said to the suspect in the video. “This is not the first time they have done this. My first car was damaged not too far from here. They did the same thing to my second car.

“This is the third time. There was someone seated in the back of the car. What if the glass had shattered and entered his eyes?”

Waves of arrests

In April, a video showing machete-wielding hoodlums harassing motorists along a road in Lekki went viral on X, sparking fresh concerns over road safety in the area.

Responding the following day, the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, disclosed that the police had arrested “a number of hoodlums” captured in the footage.

The Lagos State Police Command also reacted to the video, which was posted by OurFaveOnlineDoctor, on X assuring residents that it had taken necessary action.

“The general public is hereby urged to remain calm, as the situation is under control,” the command said on its official X handle.

Providing an update on April 26, Wahab disclosed that the then Commissioner of Police, Ishola Olawale, had ordered a rapid investigation and launched a sting operation around the Chisco and Osapa bus stop axis.

“This led to the successful identification and arrest of a number of hoodlums. The Commissioner of Police has assured law-abiding citizens that the security of their lives and property is guaranteed under his watch,” Wahab wrote.

In March, the state government also announced the arrest of 25 suspected hoodlums accused of harassing motorists along the Lekki corridor.

According to Wahab, the suspects, popularly known as “Omotaku,” were apprehended during an evening enforcement operation targeting major corridors within the area.

“During our evening patrol today, 25 individuals (Omotaku) who were harassing motorists along the Lekki axis were arrested. Harassment of road users and other forms of disorderly conduct will not be tolerated.

“Our enforcement teams will continue to monitor key corridors across the state to ensure public safety and maintain order. Those apprehended will be handed over to the appropriate authorities for further action,” he stated.

However, an Ikota resident, Lanre Fadahunsi, lamented that the return of the hoodlums suggested that insecurity was worsening along the Lekki-Ajah corridor.

“There are many white papers and petitions that have been submitted to the state government, but officials have ignored them. There is an insecurity crisis brewing along the Lekki-Ajah axis.

“We have thugs openly selling all kinds of drugs, robbing and shooting people along Ikota Road. We have hoodlums extorting motorists from Lekki down to VGC, and it is becoming unbearable. What is the government doing to stop this menace? Or are they waiting for residents to take the law into their own hands and create anarchy? The state government needs to act now,” Fadahunsi said.

Sunday PUNCH reached out to the Executive Chairman of Eti-Osa Local Government, Mrs Adeola Adetoro, but her phone rang out, and she had yet to respond to the inquiries sent to her as of the time of filing this report.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Adebisi, also did not respond to calls or a text message seeking his reaction before the report was filed. (Sunday PUNCH)

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