Lagos, Nigeria – Sodiq Taiwo looks out of his bedroom window in Lagos, watching the children below as they play and bicker in the back yard. One of their favourite games is “police and thief”, where heroes chase down supposed criminals, mouthing “pew pew” as if to shoot down the wrongdoers.Taiwo chuckles at the irony while waiting for Grand Theft Auto V (GTA) Online – an extension of the game franchise that allows players to roleplay as criminals – to finish installing on his computer.
Earlier that day, the 29-year-old digital marketer, tech-content creator and gamer was in an Uber on the way home when he stumbled upon a TikTok video by Nigerian video game streamer TacticalCeza. With more than 308,000 followers on TikTok, Ceza has become one of the foremost faces of GTA roleplay in Nigeria, as tens of thousands tune in to watch him navigate the game.
Using FiveM – a modification for GTA that allows players to create or join customised multiplayer servers without altering the game’s core framework – Ceza playacts as a policeman character in the “Made in Lagos” Roleplay community server. Advertisement
There, his character, clad in a Kevlar vest emblazoned with “Nigerian Police”, flags down cars and interacts with other characters roleplaying as fraudsters or motorists – as they re-enact the real-life encounters many yo …
