The fear of teen gangsters in the UK is the beginning of wisdom. Not only are they brazen, they seem to lack any form of humanity. In 2008, Sunday Essiet, 15, begged for his life as he was stabbed nine times in the back in a park in broad daylight but his attackers showed him no mercy. Gangs have turned the streets of London to bloodbaths and you would be wise to cross to the other side of the road when you see them coming and avoid any altercation with them because in the twinkling of an eye, a clam situation can turn bloody with innocent bystanders caught in the middle.
Though it is true that the vast majority of teenagers never join gangs, a large number of youths from Nigerian descent are involved in gangs in the UK. On Tuesday November 26 2013, Kayode Oshin, (21), and Junior Tahir-Akiyele became the latest youths of Nigeria descent to be jailed for gang-related activities. At around 1am on October 6 2011, Kayode Oshin had attempted to assassinate Yassin Zouaiou with a gun during a feud over drugs and money in Hounslow, West London. Fortunately for Yassin, the gun jammed but a single bullet was fired, hitting his brother Mohammed Ali Subhani in the neck.
Kayode was jailed for 22 years for attempted murder; 16 years for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and 14 years for wounding with intent, all to run concurrently. While Junior got 14 years in a Young Offenders’ Institution for possession of firearms with intent to endanger life with 12 years concurrent for wounding with intent.
Imprisonment is meant to serve as a deterrent but these youths are quite knowledgeable on how to get reduced sentence thereby nullifying the purpose of prison. According to a research carried out in 2011, a gang member explained why their choice weapon is normally knives “ A shank (stab) is a quieter way of killing and you get less sentence than using a gun”.
Currently, children are joining gangs at younger age than ever before. The ages range between 11 to early 20 and can be male or female Victoria Osateku who nicknamed herself “missy” Maffialed a mob of thugs, majority of who were Nigerians to chase down and stabbed Sofyen Belamouadden to death at Victoria Station using a £3.99 knife set she had bought for the vicious attack.
Different factors influences a youth’s decision to join a gang, thus, no single factor or set of factors can successfully predict which youth will become gang members and which would not. However, with regards to the attraction of Nigerian youths to gangs, a close look at what those in gangs share in common seems to pinpoint four factors; community, peer pressure, family and boredom.
Most Nigerian migrans cannot afford accommodation in upscale parts of UK and majority end up in council properties in dagerous neighbourhoods where crime rates are high. In order to protect themselves from gangs, some youth might decide to join a gang to survive. Gang members “watch one another’s back” so they usually hangout in groups to prevent rival members from attacking them. A gang’s main duty is usually to protect its turf.
Gangs are notorious for coercing youths to join their life of crime. They lure them with promises of riches and glory, and if that does not work, they threaten and bully them till they give in.
A dysfunctional family literally pushes a youth into the arms of gangs. Some families need about three jobs to make ends meet. As the parents are running from one job to the other, there is little or no parental supervision and, as such, the teenagers are free to do whatever they want to do without the parents knowledge. Some parents would never believe that their well-behaved angels are gang members. The lack of positive male role model in the house is also a contributing factor.
Some youths have everything handed to them but they are just bored and want some excitement. They have access to youth clubs but they find them uninteresting. So, they go thrill-seeking in gangs. People are bolder in groups and individuals would do things they will never dream of doing on their own.
Joining a gang requires you proving your worth by going through a process of initiation. The initiation process differs from gang to gang but they generally involve committing a sort of crime.
Getting involved in a gang has only two repercussions. It is either death or jail and on both counts, Nigerians are losing. Instead of harnessing the opportunities the country has to offer, some of our youths are more interested in crime. Both the people they kill and their own lives are eventually wasted.
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