The Awawa and One Million Boys Of Agege – The Deadly Cult Groups Terrorizing Lagos and Ogun State

A Man Narrates His Experience With The Awawa Boys of Agege, How It all Started and also Blames Politicians for empowering the Gang.

By this time, it is believed that every Lagos and Ogun State dwellers are Abreast the situation on ground as related the rampant armed robbery and cult attacks on innocent people. This was all news only to these environs not until this lockdown that has brought the national spotlight on this deadly groups of youths.

A Twitter User @Adetokey took to his account to narrate how the Awawa gang began and how terrible they are.He explained how they started, how they operate, how the factions look like, their informants and their age range.

According to Adetokey, the Awawa Boys were mostly comprised of Northerners who were housed by other members of others tribes whilst the One million boys were mostly Yoruba and sworn enemies on this ethnic lines. He added how they comprised of just teenagers between the ages of 15 to 19 years of age, they’d come to event, gatherings and occasions uninvited and do as it pleases them and no one cares to question them as the organizers and guests would pay dearly.

Here’s his nareative;

It started with Awawa boys in Agege. most people knew then that If you were having a party, these boys will come in large numbers and just start dancing (all the djs know their preferred tune). If you don’t settle them with food and cash, then you and your guests are at risk of suffering bodily harm.
My first experience with them was at a naming ceremony. They came in their numbers and began to harass the guests, my host who didn’t have a clue about them wanted to call the police but we huridly adviced him against it because of the damage they would do before and after police arrival. These teenagers made their demands (food, drinks and money), which was given to them, but did they leave? No they hijacked the party and didn’t leave until 11pm. These boys(they had a few girls) were within the 15-19 age bracket with cult signs and marks on their skins to show allegiance.
Moreso, rumor has it that the girls usually target men, they sit on your car and tell you they like you and you dare not harm or refute their advances. The larger number will swarm you and take all they can take from you and that’s not all, You are now their meal ticket for life especially bitch for life.

Well, the one million boys grew as a rival gang to Awawa boys based on ethnic lines. You see the Awawa were mostly a mix of miscreant northern boys from moricas area and the yorubas who housed them. The one million boys were Yoruba’s and felt the Awawa had overshadowed their reign on their turf. As for the One million boys, it is far more organised and have faction leaders who report to their head. Some of these boys will be the faces you will see in Amotekun (my major grouse against the program). Their numbers grew because it was easy to join and their mandate was straight forward;

1. You can’t be defeated with large numbers.
2. Cause enough disruption so no one is identified
3. Strike fear into your victims so they remember the name Some of them are military, paramilitary kids with a sense of how militia should work and function. So they are well oiled
   Initiations are done with identification methods that differ across board and sex. For the boys, they are beaten, marked (bleached lips and scar at the base of the neck) and given an assignment to prove their loyalty. The assignment is to be carried out by the initiate but largely supported by his crew while for the girls, I’ve heard rumors of gang rapes, markings and assignments too. They are given a mark. Usually a single guy or married men who live alone. They attack you, take all your valuables and rape you mercilessly without any form of protection exposing the person to STIs and STDs. It doesn’t end there! They take pictures for blackmail effectively making you a bitch for life. Reported cases of these incidents are few because no guy wants to go and report that he was assaulted by a bunch of underage girls.

They are not a recent threat to civility.

They were just largely ignored till now that they have grown from lizards to dragons. I fear the police is not strong enough to handle them due to their numbers and information leaks.
Adetokey added that it is possible if the government is willing to take hold of the situation and he have a few suggestions as stated below:

1. Station police squad cars in strategic locations to disrupt gatherings of large boys
2. Ban the sale of agbo and kparaga in the states. Those women are informants and charm sellers extraordinaires
3. Disrupt their activities by placing a ban on street jamz, parties extending to streets etc
4. Once arrested and found guilty, force them into conscripted labour on farms in other state effectively cutting off communication from others.
5. Rehabilitation programs

I hope politicians are seeing this and are working a way to crub this rising riot cases or else it’ll get out of hand.