More communities resort to self help as crime surges

As crime rate continue to surge it is fast becoming common practice for Nigerians to take the laws into their hands by applying sanctions, they see fit, on suspected criminals. KEHINDE OSASONA revisits recent incidents of jungle justice.

Jungle justice is certainly not a new development but it appears to be on the increase especially with the growing crime rate and distrust between Nigerians and the security agencies. The slow process of the nation’s justice system as well as lack of judicious prosecution of suspected criminals have also not helped the situation. The trend is gradually creeping back even within the nation’s capital city, Abuja.

FCT in the throes

In 2017, the Convener of #Ourmumudondo, Mr Charles Oputa aka Charley Boy and his co-protesters narrowly escaped mob action when they took their Return or Resign protest to the Wuse Market in Abuja.

The protesters were resisted by some traders, mainly of Northern extraction made up petty traders within the vicinity of the protest, for daring to exercising their civic rights. The encounter almost escalated to a riotous situation at some point. It took the timely intervention of security agents to save the musician turned activist and his followers from being lynched. However, many were injured, just as vehicles belonging to members of the public who were not part of the protest were vandalized.

Earlier, on March 12, 2016, a young man, Ikechukwu Anigbo, was set ablaze following an argument with a motorcyclist over N10.

According to media reports, Anigbo, a 32-year-old barber from Aku in Enugu state, had boarded the motorcycle and on getting to his destination, gave the cyclist N50, but the man insisted that his money was N60 and an argument ensued between them.

The desperate motorcyclist was said to have raised the alarm shouting thief and attracted his colleagues and other passersby, who started beating Anigbo after which they set him ablaze.

Notwithstanding warnings by the police the trend has continued to thrive as police officers attached to the FCT Police Command in July this year rescued four suspected ‘one chance’ robbers from an angry mob on the Kubwa Expressway.

A press statement by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Anjuguri Manzah, on the incident said the suspects were rescued by a police patrol team, noting that the mob had already stripped three female suspects and set their operational vehicle on fire before the police team arrived.

“While not being insensitive to the criminal activities of the suspects, the command condemns in totality the practice of resorting to jungle justice. The stripping of the three female suspects in public was totally uncalled for.”

It was, however, a different experience for suspected robber who was set ablaze by a mob at the Lugbe, a suburb of Abuja.

The lynched robber was said to be among a gang that had been terrorizing the community, especially Lugbe Zone 9, for months. The activities of these gang was said to have led to early closure of businesses in the area for fear of attack.

The robbers, who reportedly operate on motorcycles, inflict injuries of various degrees on their victims, especially when faced with resistance.

Similarly, a gang of suspected ‘one chance’ robbers recently met their water loo at Dutse Alhaji, another suburb of Abuja, for allegedly robbing a female passenger who had boarded their vehicle.

Blueprint Weekend learnt that a lady inside a moving vehicle was heard screaming for help and was subsequently pushed out of the moving vehicle. The lady who was rescued by some good Samaritans she ended up in the hospital.

However, a motorist, who saw what happened, reportedly blocked the gang’s operation vehicle as passerby and commercial motorcycle riders surrounded the vehicle.

According to eye witness account the mob beat and set the three suspects on fire before security operative arrived the scene.

Reacting to the incident, the FCT Police Command in a statement through its Public Relations Officer DSP Anjuguri Manzah did not only condemn the dastardly act but also warned that such occurrence would no longer be tolerated, even as he assured the perpetrators would be fished out.

According to the statement, “The command unequivocally condemns the action of the angry mob that resorted to meting out jungle justice on the suspects instead of handing them over to the police for discreet investigation and prosecution.”

Sokoto incident

The ancient city, Sokoto, has also witnessed cases of jungle justice. The killing of a 25-year-old student of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Abdullahi Abbati, took the city by storm, even as his killers are yet to be apprehended.

Abbati, who was studying Health Information and Management, was expected to commence his second semester examinations on August 27, 2018, when his lifeless body was found on the streets.

The deceased’s uncle, Alhaji AbdulRashid Yusuf, who described the act as barbaric and uncivilized, wondered why Nigerians were no longer entitled to the right to life as enshrined in the UN Charter to which Nigeria is a signatory.

In complaint  letter titled, “Complain On Extrajudicial Killing Of Abdullahi Abbati At Gwiwa Low Cost, Sokoto,” Yusuf alleged that, “On Sunday, August 26, 2018, at about 7am, Abdullahi Abbati was found lying stone dead by the road side beside the house of a certain Yunusa aka “Oho Dai” reported to be a vigilante leader in the area.

“The police were contacted and his body was deposited at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto from where his body was taken to Tudun Wada cemetery for burial.

“The information I was able to collect in my capacity being his maternal uncle as to the genesis, is that he is said to have entered the house of a certain Kasimu Sifawa, who was said to have used a pestle to beat him on the head, and later called the attention of “Oho dai” and others yet unknown, who descended on him with machetes and hacked him gruesomely to death leaving his body on the road side.”

He further stated that: “It is on record that three months ago, Oho dai was said to have beaten the late Abbati to stupor, tying his hands and legs and attempted using tyre to burn him alive but for the quick intervention of police that saved the situation.”

Ebonyi experience

Similarly, sometime in June this year, a young man, who was identified simply as Emmanuel, was allegedly beaten to death by the youth of Nkpoghoro, a community in Afikpo North local government area of Ebonyi state for allegedly stealing a goat.

Confirming the incident, a resident of the community, Chukwu Ukpai Ken, said the jungle justice could have been prevented if the youth had reported the incident to law enforcement agencies.

According to him, “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.”

Also condemning the incident, another resident, Emmanuel Isuama, wondered why petty criminals are often killed without recourse to law enforcement agencies, while politicians who steal the nation blind continue to walk the streets free.

“What is the work of the police and other law enforcement agencies? Must you take laws into your hands? Is jungle justice a solution,” he asked.

Lagos too

In Lagos, a mob struck in Badore, Ajah Lagos killing a 22-year-old commercial tricycle operator, Olamide Omolede, over allegation that he stole a mobile phone.

According to the victim’s father, following days of epileptic power supply in the community, Omolede, who was also a tricycle rider, went to a nearby store to charge his handset for a fee. Afterwards, he left the store for his house.

However, after some minutes, a woman arrived at Mr Omolede’s house with some hoodlums, alleging that his son stole her phone where they were charging. The hoodlums, it was learnt, mauled him to death and threw his body into a nearby lagoon.

A witness, Tunde Afolabi, said that the deceased was first paraded half-naked to Iyalaye Store where the alleged theft occurred.

He said the phone which was reported stolen was later found with the son of the woman, who had accused Mr Omolede of stealing it.

Media reports also have it that a 26-year-old clearing agent from Ogun state, Temitope Adeoye, met his untimely death in the hands of a mob, in the same vicinity. The mob was said to have mistaken him for a suspected thief in the Cele-Ijesha area.

It was gathered that Adeoye and his colleague, Babatunde Adigwe, were on their way back from work at the Tincan Island Port, Apapa, when they were accused of being thieves by some men. It was gathered that while Adigwe was able to escape, Adeoye was beaten and burnt to death by the irate mob.

Adigwe, from Delta state, said the mob action took place around the Odo Olowu area of Ijesha, adding that Adeoye was lynched without being given the opportunity to prove his innocence.

He said, “We closed from work around 8pm on Monday and we left the office around 8.30pm. We boarded a motorcycle, and while on our way around Odo Olowu, Ijesha, the motorcyclist said that we should pay our fares so that when we get to the Cele bus stop, he won’t have to bother about the police there.

“Temitope was sitting behind me so, I told him to alight for me to be able to bring out money from my back pocket. We were still arguing with the motorcyclist on why he decided to stop around that isolated area for us to pay him when we sighted a minibus coming from the opposite direction. The bus stopped and immediately the people inside it started calling us thieves; there were about seven men in the bus.

“They crossed to our side of the road and three of them came to meet me. I was still on the bike, but Temitope was running away. The motorcyclist wanted to move, but they held him down and someone was also drawing my shirt from the back so that I could fall down too. The motorcyclist and I struggled with the men and we were able to escape.

“After Temitope ran some distance, he gassed out and the suspected robbers outran him. The mob caught up with him and butchered him. I was still on the bike and looking from a distance. I saw that he tried to struggle with them. When I got to a safe place at Cele bus stop, I did not see Temitope again. I tried his telephone immediately, but it was not going through.”

Anger, frustration as factors

Speaking on why the trend thrives in an interview with Blueprint Weekend a social commentator and psychologist, Jeremiah Pam, described mob reaction transfer of aggression occasioned by physical and mental factors.

He said, “Don’t you know that a most of the people you see around are frustrated as a result of one reason or another. Have you wondered why people fight over minor issue and before you knew it, there would be street fight.

“Frustration, anger in the land coupled with the fact that many who are secretly nursing depression and are supposed to be getting treatment now mix with crowds or mob as you may choose to call it to perpetuate such crime in the name of seeking justice.”

Proffering solution, Pam said: “I think the society must stand up to condemned mob attitude to some of this minor crimes and disagreement which for me cannot be totally avoided in a populated and bustling city.

‘Again, the security agencies should employ pro-activeness since some of these occurrences were not planned before it happens.”

Ignorance, poverty as factors

Giving an insight into the situation from the legal point of view an Abuja based legal practitioner, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, told Blueprint Weekend that mob action or jungle justice in most cases stemmed from ignorance on the part of the populace, saying that the law frowns at it.

He said some Nigerians are still not well-informed, noting that, “Instead of resulting to self-help, the proper thing to do when somebody is alleged to have committed a crime should have been to report to the appropriate authority.”

Justice to him is a three way traffic; Justice to the state, justice to the accused person or defendant and justice to the victim.

“So when a victim feels they have not really got justice they result to subsequent act of violation of the criminal law.

So what the mobs do in most cases is go for the jugular when viewed that the justice system might not favour them or that it is not working.

“Take for instance, culprits of corruption or graft involving billions of naira against the state which is more serious than murder or terrorism often escape jungle justice as high profile criminals.

“The worst that can happen to them is probably some media attack, the point am making here is that; if the mobs realized that the people that has committed more serious crimes are not being served jungle justice, they would have a rethink. So, I insist that their actions were borne out of ignorance.”

He further stated that, “In the heat of passion, mobs pounce on their victims to perpetuate jungle justice which as you know is against the law.

“The other aspect to it could be the inability of the justice system to effectively serve the purpose for which it is established. Of course, there have been instances that the issue of corruption comes in and it tends to erode the confidence of the society in our security agents.

“However, it is not enough to take laws into one’s hand. One major thing that we need to understand is that crimes are meant to be reported to security agencies.

“My submission is that such people that have been alleged to have committed such crime should come to justice and not jungle justice so that the wrong person would not be attacked in the course of carrying out such act.

“Every accused person is presumed innocent until he is found guilty by a court of law. So the moment you attack any person extra-judicially, you have taken the laws into your hands and you are also culpable.

“The implication is that you yourself can be picked up, investigated, prosecuted and serves terms for meting out jungle justice. Two wrongs can never make a right.” he warned.”

The big question then is: has the culture of jungle justice come to stay in this clime?

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