Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini.
Lawrence Anini popularly known as “Anini The Law” was a Nigerian criminal who terrorized Benin City in the 1980s.
He was born in the 1960s in a village about 30 kilometers away from Benin City in present day Edo state.
He moved to Benin at a young age and learned to drive and with time became a skilled taxi driver.
He was well known in Benin motor parks.
He dived into crime in the city and became a transporter for gangs, criminal godfathers and thieves.
With time he created his own gang which included Monday Osunbor, Ofege, and others, and they first began to operate as car hijackers, bus robbers, and bank thieves.
Gradually, he extended his criminal acts to other towns and cities far north and east of Benin.
It is believed that his reign of terror was triggered by the complicity of the police.
In early 1986 two of his gang members Kingsley and Kele were tried and prosecuted prior to the under-the-table bribe induced agreement with the police to destroy evidence against the gang members.
The incident, coupled with Anini’s view of police betrayal, is believed to have triggered retaliatory actions by Anini.
In August 1986, a fatal bank robbery operation which involved the death of a child and a police officer was linked to Anini.
During a span of 3 months he was known to have killed 9 police officers.
Some believed he possessed magical powers and was often described as a spirit as he was believed to be able to teleport at will.
He was later captured on 3rd Dec., 1986 at a house in Benin City, in the company of a girlfriend who was believed to had betrayed him.
He was shot in the legs and moved to a milliary hospital, several days later one of his legs was amputated.
He was later tried and convicted of most of his charges.
He was executed on March 29,1987.
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