A young man, who was identified simply as Emmanuel at the time of filing this report, has been beaten to death by youths of Ugwuegu, a community in Afikpo North local government area of Ebonyi state.
In a Facebook post Tuesday morning, a resident of the community, Mr Kelechi Egwu, said the deceased was beaten to death by the youths “for stealing a goat,” but could not provide further details when pressed by readers.
However, reacting to the development, a resident of the community, Mr Chukwu Ukpai Ken, said the jungle justice would have been prevented if the youths had reported the incident to law enforcement agencies, instead of taking laws into their hands.
“The youths are taking laws into their hands. Yes, he stole a goat, but instead of them to torture him a little and take him to a nearby police station, they went into beating him to death,” he said.
Also reacting, another respondent, Mr Emmanuel Isuama, condemned the incident in toto, saying that politicians have been going scot-free for stealing the nation blind, whereas petty criminals are killed without recourse to law enforcement agencies.
“What is the work of the police and other law enforcement agencies? Must you take laws into your hands? Is jungle justice a solution? The politicians that have stolen your future and that of your unborn kids, how many have you killed? Instead, they celebrate them and kill someone that stole ordinary goat, whereas the once stealing millions are walking freely,” he said.
However, another resident, Mr Utom Nnali Chibuike, justified the killing, revealing that thieves have been terrorising the community and that the jungle justice would serve as deterrent to others of his kind.
“Nobody is going to be killed if you don’t deserve killing. Assuming he didn’t do this, will death come to him? Stealing is not a job. In our house, they stole two goats at once, just last month. Those condemning the killing have not had an experience with thieves. They refused to learn work or find something doing. I hate stealing with passion,” he said.
