A colony within barracks

•Delta mammy market where criminals take refuge

From** Ben Dunno, **Warri

The demolition of the popular Mammy Market by soldiers of the 3Battalion, Effurun Barracks, came with a mixed feeling of relief and anxiety for the residents of Warri South, Uvwie local governments, adjoining communities of Udu, Okpe and Sapele, Delta State. The demolition of the 5.4-kilometer land space market commenced on Monday, October 12, 2026, witnessed the destruction of property, worth several millions of naira and the ejection of hundreds of it’s inhabitants.

Security watchers said the demolition was long overdue, considering the volatility of the area in question and the seemingly difficulty of tracking criminals to the place even by the police out of fear of encroaching into a military zone where these dare-devil armed robbers often hibernates and strategies their next robbery plans.

Apart from its been popular in the market it created for the sales of agricultural produce, especially for good coming from the northern region for the residents of Warri, Effurun and surrounding communities, the area was also notorious for creating a safe haven for illicit drug dealings, mostly for teenagers, prostitutions, especially of under-age girls, abortion centers and breeding ground of fake drugs.

Although the area serves as a source of additional revenue generation for the barracks as dues, levies and rents were paid through a designated agents appointed by the Commanding Officers (CO) (Rear) of the Battalion, it was learnt that due the interest attached, successive Commanders have extended the Mammy from 1 to Mammy 2, 3, 4, 5 extensions and most recently MammyWater.

Investigations carried out at the scene of the demolition has it that Eight Hundred and Forty-Four (844) brothels and Four Thousand, Five Hundred (4,500) shoes were demolished with the breakdown as follows; MAMMY 1; Brothel 479 : 2602 Shops/rooms, MAMMY 2/EXTENSION; Brothel 187 : rooms/shops 791, MAMMY 4; Brothel 167 : 1141 rooms/shops and MANMY 5; Brothel 1 : 10 shops.

REASONS FOR DEMOLITION;

Although there had been series of cases that could have led to the demolition of the area in the time past that were being overlooked but the straw that finally broke the camel’s back was the frequent vandalization of an estimated 25 High Tension Pylons (also known as transmission towers) by suspected criminals who were discovered to be hiding inside the Mammy market.

On December 3, 2025, there was a major damage on 2UGH-SAP1 and and 2UGH-BEN1, and after a comprehensive patrol was carried out on both lines it was discovered that the aluminum conductors on 330kV circuit G3B between T100 and T101 on both circuits have collapsed and T97 to T99 has been vandalized on both circuits by the same vandal syndicate.

Also on January 12, 2026, there was the vandalization of T97, T98 and T99 was siin to have dropped due to the vandalization of the towers on G3B making it T97, T98, T99,T100 and T101 that has been vandalized and collapsed. The routine patrol carried out on Delta/Afisere 132kV DC line was carried out and confirmed successfully.

At about the same time, the patrol of nine(9) towers was observed to have been vandalized and needs urgent rehabilitation to avoid any collapse these included: T9, T10, T11, T12, T14, T15, T16, T17 and T18, causing a major system collapse.

In March 15, 2026, the team on patrol at Circuit S4G, observed that Tower 99 has been vandalized on line side from second stage to almost the Y leg completely. Tower 100 also Vandalized and these were immediately rehabilitated to avoid an imminent collapse of the transmission system.

Then, on June 18, 2026, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Ughelli, commenced the phases rehabilitation of its vandalized truck-lines to include; damaged 330kV G3B and S4G DC tower 16, Vandalized T16 on 330kV circuit G3B and S4G, while the vandalized T15 on circuit G3B and S4G was still in progress.

The very last incident that occurred on August 8, 2026, when the vandals again struck in the early hours of the day at the location of tower 101 on circuit G3B and T97, on circuit S4G, but this time around they were not so luck as the tower fell on one of them that died on the spot and the second that was critical injured later died after losing much blood from the injury sustained, while the rest managed to escape.

Furious by the activities of these vandals and acting on intelligence gathering, the Commander 63 Brigade/Headquarters, Sector 1 Joint Task Force, South-South OPDS, Brigadier General Ibrahim Buhari, ordered the residents of the Mammy market to produce the vandals who lived among them or risk the eviction from the area occupied.

Rather than complying with the directive to fish out the criminal elements among them, the Mammy residents, mostly women and children with placards, were reported to have organized a protest blocking the major Warri/Sapele highway and insisting that the soldiers should not compel them into acting in an issue they knew nothing about and demanding to be left alone.

Further infuriated by this action, Buhari ordered his men to immediately commenced the demolition of the entire area, in order to put an end to the endless trend of vandalism and criminal activities in the area.

A group, Warri Urban Security Network (WUSN), lamented the delay by the soldiers to have carried out the house cleaning exercise, noting that the area has been notorious for all sorts of crimes, especially drugs and armed robbery.

WUSN in a statement by Frank Adagbabiri and Chinedu Ejiofor, chairman and cecretary, respectively, disclosed that the intel at its disposal had t that area had been a safe haven for criminals operating within Warri, Effurun and its environs who after operating in town go and hid themselves there knowing it would be difficult for police to raid the area due to its military zone status: “Even when the police sort the approval of the 3Battalion authorities to storm the place, the criminals would have been alerted and escaped before the police team would arrived the place.”

A concerned Warri resident, DJ and entertainer, Mr. Friday Akaba, raised concerns over the influx of criminals ejected from the market into adjoining cities, towns and communities, particularly during these periods of the ember months and called for a more collaborative efforts between security agencies in tackling the surge in crime that may follow the demolition.

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