OPINION! THE INJUSTICE OF JUNGLE JUSTICE AND MOB ACTION

By Mark Chisom Akams (Arc)

Since I was a child, one of the worst scenes I detest is the scene of mob action or what we refer to as "Jungle justice" where suspects are beaten, battered with several weapons, lynched and even set ablaze alive (I once witnessed one in my village during my primary school days when one armed robber was caught, then my 'Joy' that a robber was caught turned into tears and bitterness when he was set ablaze). These incidents always makes me to wonder if these people who beat and set someone ablaze are actually humans like me, or maybe there's actually another fluid/liquid running in their veins other than the blood which I have inside me.

Right from my childhood days, I have always appreciated the efforts of healthcare givers - Doctors, nurses, surgeons etc -  on their work of saving lives even at the risk of theirs. This made me develop a 'soft spot' for them especially surgeons to the extent that I once nursed the ambition of being a medical doctor to save lives especially those on emergency cases but that idea went into oblivion due to my 'phobia' for blood. I became so passionate about human life that I even find it difficult to burst pimples on someone's face or kill a mosquito on someone's body even when I've been directed todo so by 'victim' of the mosquito's 'blood-sucking adventure' -this is because I don't want to 'feel their pain' or maybe see blood droplets after bursting the pimples. I digress.

Back to the subject matter; the re-occurrence of mob action leading to lynching and burning of suspects alive has once again brought the 'INJUSTICE OF JUNGLE JUSTICE' to the front burner with the burning alive of a young boy in Badagary area of Lagos for allegedly "stealing GARRI" (though some reports say Mobile phone) what ever it maybe, there's still no justification. For couple of days now various social media platforms have been reacting to this gruesome murder of the young teenager through 'jungle justice' - a boy of seven (7) years (some say 20yrs).

The point that got me thinking while looking at the pictures I saw on facebook and amazed was my sighting of the huge crowd of onlookers surrounding the victim and so many taking turns to capture the gruesome murder with their phone cameras while some made video recording of the incident for social media upload; No one deemed it fit to take steps to stop the mob action or even inviting the police or civil defence corps within the area. This is barbaric, evil and inhuman and must be condemned.

I am not an advocate of any sort of stealing or crime - in fact anyone caught stealing for any reason should be made to face the full wrath of the law - rather am advocating for the general public to allow the full course of the law to take its place in events like this and not take laws into their hands. We have criminal justice system running in this country, we have law enforcement agencies like the Police force and the civil defence corps etc., so we should not resort to 'jungle justice' when a crime 'suspect' is nabbed.

Sometimes I begin to wonder, have we lost our human conscience, sympathy and value for human life? Or maybe we are no longer passionate about the lives of others? What on earth is the reason why we should resort to taking away lives which we didn't even create in the first place in this treacherous, gruesome, barbaric and devilish manner in the name of jungle justice? What ever be the case, whether pepper, mobile phone, money, garri, tomato, bread, or even car, its not a reason for us to burn a human being to death after thorough beating. Am sure we have not forgotten so soon the University of PortHarcourt students - The "Aluu-FOUR" - who suffered and died by this 'injustice of jungle justice' a couple of years back. Let's join hands together and lend our voices to condemn this barbaric, ungodly and inhumane act, let's say No to murder, let justice take its course.

Another issue of concern is this; where was the police, the civil defence corps and other law enforcement agencies? Where they asleep when this mob action started and why didn't they get to the scene before the young teenager was burnt alive? Or at least make some arrests of some of these perpetrators of this heinous act.
Talking about the criminal justice system in Nigeria, it seems the government has gone to sleep, this jungle justice has been going on for years and the government seem not to do anything about it, or probably they have lost touch of ideas on how to curb this evil act in our society. The criminal justice system needs to be overhauled, new laws put in place, and repositioned to meet up with their responsibilities to the citizens. They need to restore the public's confidence in their ability to deal with perpetrators of various crimes in the society from armed robbery to stealing in all its forms, looting and mismanagement of public funds and all forms of corruption no matter whose ox is gorged.

This restoration of public confidence in their ability to effectively and efficiently fight crime is non-negotiable due to the fact that we are in a country where several top government officials and public office holders accused/indicted for several crimes ranging from looting, mismanagement, money laundry and other high calibre offences still go on to hold public offices and run the day to day affairs of our country without being prosecuted and jailed for their crimes.
For instance; A situation where by a former military general who was accused of various corrupt offences including mismanagement and diversion of funds under his watch while he held sway at helm at Petroleum Technology fund (PTF) was still left to run and subsequently become the president of this nation currently.
Furthermore, we have seen in our country where our past state governors and other public officers with records of high profile criminals cases are all seated comfortably as 'distinguished senators' in the "Red chamber" of our National Assembly as well as others in the lower chamber as 'Honourable members' of the house of representatives making 'Laws'.

Further instances on the need to restore the public's confidence on the ability of our criminal justice system to fighting crime effectively is highlighted as follows; A situation where public officers like Rotimi Amechi (who looted his state dry while he held sway as Governor of Rivers state and used same looted public funds to prosecute the presidential campaign of his party) and Babatunde Fashola (who left his Lagos state in a high profile debt together with his master Bola Tinubu and so many other cases of mismanagement levelled against him) are all walking free, living in affluence and power as 'Ministers of the Federal Republic', while 'petty-robbery' suspects are jailed for years and sometimes held behind bars without prosecution is a serious source of worry. These few factors highlight the importance of restructuring and repositioning of our criminal justice systems as well as our crime-fighting mechanisms so as to restore public confidence and also stop all these brutal murder and burning alive of suspects in the name of jungle justice.

If truly we are serious about fighting crime to the core in this country, its high time we call a spade a spade, laying aside our Political, religious, traditional, cultural and even tribal affiliation and fight injustice and crime holistically and at the end provide the public with a balanced justice system.

As individuals, we all should stop supporting directly or indirectly either by applauding or keeping mute (without reporting or making efforts to stop) this trending barbaric act of battering and burning alive of our fellow citizens in the name of 'jungle justice'. We should make efforts and report crime suspects caught to the appropriate authorities and then follow it up to ensure justice is delivered.
LET'S JOIN HANDS and STOP THIS INJUSTICE OF JUNGLE JUSTICE, it is barbaric, evil, inhuman, and MUST be stopped at all cost. Don't take life which you did not create.

#SayNoToJungleJustice #SayNoToMobAction
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Mark Chisom Akams (Arc)
Writes from Apo, Abuja, FCT.