WHEN THE COMMON MAN BECOMES PROSECUTOR, JUDGE AND EXECUTOR

When four students of University of Port Harcourt, Ugonna, Iloyd, Tekana and Chidiaka  were gruesomely murdered by a mob at Aluu community, very close to the University  of portharcourt, Rivers State Nigeria,  for allegedly stealing mobile phones and laptops, it provoked an outcry from the masses, what era do we live in?

The four students were stripped naked, beaten and tyres were put on their necks and they were set ablaze. This would not be the first time such a thing is happening in Nigeria, growing up as a kid, I remember seeing dead bodies with tyres on their necks and their flesh roasted. I can’t forget because it was a common sight then at Aba, Abia State Nigeria. A few weeks ago, there were photos on the internet of a young lady stripped naked in Abuja the Nation’s capital over the theft of a black berry phone. That young lady some may call her fortunate because she wasn’t burnt alive but she would need series of therapy to recover from the shame and embarrassment, she may not even recover from it for the rest of her life.

Some people may be of the opinion that the victims of such crimes deserve it. Agreed, if a person is guilty of a crime, he should be punished, emphasis is on the word guilty. Section 36(5) of the Nigerian constitution provides inter alia that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. That same section of the constitution lays down rules to be followed for fair hearing. So these people that were killed for alleged crimes, who proved them guilty, which court were they tried in? The constitution is supreme and should be obeyed by every member of the society.

The constitution talks about the sanctity of human life, thus section 33 of the constitution provides for right to life. Why would a group of people gather and kill their fellow humans like an animal? Who gave them the right? It is murder no matter the reason.

We believe that the reason for such barbarian acts is because the people have lost hope in the police, and the entire justice system but that is still not an excuse for people to take laws into their hands. It is wickedness, it is a case of man’s inhumanity to man..

 Some people are also of the opinion that the only reason this particular case of ALUU killing has been so publicized is because the victims come from influential and rich homes. This is not far from the truth but more people have reacted because it was recorded and the world can view for themselves such heinous killing. The fact remains that it doesn’t matter whether they are rich or the influential members of the society, they were human beings, youth, the future of tomorrow, they were murdered in cold blood. They were accused, no evidence was produced to show that they stole, they were no arms displayed to show they were cultists, there was no dead body to show they committed murder. So many stories have come up, while some say they were thieves, others say they were cultists and others say they went to collect money owed them by an Aluu indigene, all these are hearsay, the main victims are dead so who speaks for them. If nothing is done, who knows what next will happen to an accused person, may be he will be cut into pieces and asked to eat his flesh or worse. The heart of man is desperately wicked. May we pause to say here that if such jungle justice is allowed to continue, if for instance robbers intend to bombard that place, they would come armed and they would shoot to avoid being captured and burnt alive, or the families and friends of such victims could come at night and wipe out the entire village, then there would be a total breakdown of law and order. That was why these laws were put in place in the first place to forestall such happenings.

We call on the Inspector General of Police, the DG SSS,  the Commandant General Civil defence, the presidency, the legislature, the judiciary,all well meaning Nigerians to not just sigh or protest but actually do something, the law enforcement officers should investigate properly and make sure the perpetrators of such evil acts are brought to book. They broke the laws of the land and they should be punished. We hear some arrests have been made, let it not end there, we need to see some people prosecuted and sent to jail for murder. This should not be one of those cases that will be abandoned half way. An example should be made. Let us once again restore the confidence of the people in the justice system and deter further acts in the future. The federal Government of Nigeria should pass a law banning jungle justice, there should be a prescribed penalty for taking laws into their hands.