Anxiety as Nigerians resort to jungle justice to tackle abduction menace
Wild! Wild! Wild! The Nigerian society appears to have gone unusually berserk in recent times. The people seem to have lost their respect for law and order and fast embracing and applying the barbaric practice of jungle justice in dealing with the menace of kidnapping that has continued to generate so much tension across the country.
Ever since the discovery of the Soka Forest, the evil haven in Ibadan where decomposing bodies were found recently, the people’s anger has refused to abate, leading to a regime of mindless lynching of suspected kidnappers.
Like never before, the lynching of suspected kidnappers is not restricted to any part of the country. Everywhere you go, there is deep-seated anger in the land over the activities of suspected criminals.
The list of those that have been gruesomely lynched across the country, the South West in particular, has continued to be on the increase.
Two suspected kidnappers were separately lynched and set ablaze in different parts of Lagos State recently. One of them, allegedly caught with three children, was said to have been set ablaze in Abule Egba area of the state. The victim, a female, was thoroughly beaten before she was set ablaze using tyres and petrol.
The other victim was also similarly lynched and set ablaze at Araromi Bus Stop along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway for allegedly attempting to kidnap a six- year- old boy.
In Osun State, three suspected kidnappers were also burnt to death in different parts of Osogbo, the Osun State capital. They were apprehended by youths at various locations before a mob eventually set them ablaze.
One of them was burnt to death at Ayetoro area of Osogbo by a mob, while the other two were burnt at Plantation and Igbona areas of the town.
Another suspect would equally have been burnt by irate youths at Olaiya area of the town but for the quick intervention of the police and a soldier. He was said to have confessed that the 10 of them came from outside the state to kidnap young children in Osogbo and its environs.
Ogun State is not left out of the barbaric act. Three suspected kidnappers were set ablaze by a mob on Ijoko Road in Ijoko- Ota, Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state. The suspects, who operated in a taxi, were lynched for allegedly kidnapping a woman whose name was given as Oluwole Elizabeth around Sona Brewery in Sango Ota.
The same fate befell a middle-aged man at Adegbola Junction in Akure, the Ondo State capital. The victim, who was suspected to be mentally-ill, was reportedly caught with two children and was adjudged by some youths to be a kidnapper and was consequently set ablaze.
Irate youths also set ablaze a suspected kidnapper at Odo Oja in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State. The suspect was allegedly found in possession of the lifeless body of a young boy at Mashood area of the state.
He was said to have been stripped naked and beaten to a state of coma by 50 youths before he was set ablaze.
Nigerians worried by development
Checks revealed that the scourge has made many Nigerians to be living with grave anxiety. It was learnt that some persons have begun to eschew playing with children that are not theirs and equally caution their children against playing with strangers to avoid falling victim of the lynching mob who most times throw caution to the wind. Some respondents, who spoke with The Nation, said the menace needs to be arrested immediately before it goes out of hand.
A respondent, who simply gave her name as Mrs Akanbi, said it calls for serious attention because it could easily become a tool of eliminating enemies.
“The practice is barbaric. People could begin to use it to eliminate those that they disagree with by simply tagging them as kidnappers. It is equally horrifying to see fellow human beings being roasted line animals. I have become very careful about playing with children that are not mine to avoid being mistaken for a kidnapper. The recent abduction of Chibok girls and numerous kidnapping cases across the country may have compelled the masses to take to lynching and burning suspects but that is not enough,” she said.
Another respondent, who identified herself as Mrs. Helen Macaulay, said: “I have warned my children to stop talking and playing with strangers. I also hardly touch or help other peoples’ children because people are really angry these days. They could easily mistake one for a kidnapper at the slightest mistake. It is not all these people they beat or lynch that are kidnappers. Some of them were victims of circumstance. It is horrible in this time and age for such to be happening. Those who are involved in kidnapping should desist from the act”.
Mrs Oloyede Abidemi on her part said the problem instills fears in her. “It is disturbing to hear that human beings are being burnt here and there. I am sure that the generality of the masses feels the same way too . I have been thinking about it all the time and I find it so upsetting because it could happen to anybody. I have been forced to keep checking on my children in school frequently because the things that are happening these days are terrible. The attitude of the Nigerian government is not helping matters. They all have their children safely tucked away outside the country and do not care about what happens to the ordinary man on the street,” she said.
Adegunle Kunle, another respondent, however, sees nothing wrong in lynching suspected kidnappers. He said it is not necessary to hand over suspects to the police, saying: “The society has become highly unsafe for the masses. There is a high level of insecurity everywhere. It is good to hand over suspects to the police but it is not necessary because our police are not doing their duty very well. If you remember the case of Clifford Orji in Lagos State, what came out of it at the end of the day? They handed him over to the police but nothing came out of the incident. Criminals should not be handed over to the police.”
His line of thought was shared by one Mrs Oduogwu. She said: “Jungle justice is an abomination before God. The development has discouraged me as a person from playing with other people’s children because I don’t want any problem for myself.
“It is good to help and play with other people’s children but one needs to be very careful in doing that because of the security situation in the country. I don’t support jungle justice but at the same time, I don’t blame those who burn suspects because if you look at the level of pains that they cause parents and families of their victims, you will not pity them.
Why they do it -Security experts
Mr. Wilson Esangbedo, a security expert and consultant, said people may have resorted to jungle justice because they have lost confidence in the various authorities saddled with the responsibility of dealing with such crimes.
“The problem here is that the masses are suspicious of the system. They are not sure that the suspects would be made to face the wrath of the law when they hand them over to the police. I am not in support of jungle justice but the masses may have resorted to it to make it a deterrent for others. The discovery of the Soka Forest in Ibadan could easily prompt people to take to jungle justice. If people arrest criminals and hand them over to the appropriate authorities and later on, the criminals through the support of influential persons get released, the people will see this and be noting it. If they should arrest such criminals next time, they would be forced to resort to jungle justice.
“This has serious implication on the country. It shows that we have no value for human life and the rule of law. There are tendencies of killing innocent people for no reasons with the way things are going. The police and the judiciary would have to improve on their present performances in order to gain the confidence of the public.”
Hon. Dipo Okeyomi, a security expert and consultant, opined that there is need to make the laws of the land to be working in order to nib the problem in the bud. “If we allow people to start or continue to disrespect the law of the land,we would be working towards anarchy and that would mean going back to the dark days of the military regimes.
“Our National Assembly should wake up to their responsibility by making our laws work.Their excesses, those of the judiciary, the security agencies and the executives should be adequately checked. People should learn to respect the law of the land. Nobody has right under the law to take another man’s life. Any suspected kidnapper should be reported to the police. Burning of suspected criminals by the public is also a criminal offence under the criminal code and law of Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
He recalled: “There was pandemonium in Ajegunle area recently when an aged woman was attacked and seriously injured by some people in the area. She was taking her grandson home from the hospital where the mother of the baby was admitted. They mistook her for a kidnapper and beat her mercilessly. It took the quick intervention of the police to save the innocent woman from a disgraceful death. We must do everything possible to stop all this.”
There are many dimensions to the problem- Psychologist
Dr. Olufemi Akintayo of the Department of Psychology, University of Lagos (UNILAG), condemned the two practices of kidnapping and lynching of suspected kidnappers.
He said, in a chat with The Nation, that the menace of kidnapping has many dimensions. “You can look at it from different dimensions. You can look at it from the psycho dynamic dimension; you can also look at it from the spiritual psychology. Sigmund Freud’s Psychodynamic theory explains the mind’s body system and so many other components. Why is it that some people will go ahead and steal even when they are rich? There are cases of people in government that are rich but still steal, whereas there are some poor people who would manage what they have.
“Why do people do what they do? When people are not satisfied with what they have, they can do anything. When you look at the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, no government in this part of the world has satisfied the number one on that list. I have not seen any government since 1960 that did that. An average Nigerian cannot boast of three square meals. That is the beginning of the problem. So, when you have something that can fetch you money, you go for it because you want to eat, you want to have shelter and all that. There are people who are even poor but would not do such things. It depends on the individual ‘s personality and socialisation processes,” he noted.
He added: “It is human beings and not animals that are responsible for this problem whether we like it or not. The story before now was that some people were acting as if they were insane and at night when people were passing, they would hit them and drag them to a corner. When such happens, you see people parking cars to patronise them.
“If you see the picture of people who are doing this job, they don’t look like people who have N50, 000 in their savings. They look haggard. When they are even caught, nothing comes out of it because those who are patronising them are influential people in the society. When some people cut human heads, tongues, toes and all that, it is because there are people who would buy. A simple student of Economics will tell you that if there is no demand, there would be no supply.
“If you butcher human beings and there is nobody to buy from you, you won’t do it again. We expect an arm of government to conduct and in depth investigation into this; make efforts to arrest these people and inquire from them what they do with these human parts after buying them. How is this thing going to work for you? There should be a forum where traditionalists should be invited to give us a lecture on how you can use spirits to produce money and the rest of it.”
He lamented that democracy, as it is being practiced in this part of the world, is aggravating the development. “They do all these things in the name of politics. That is why people like you and I would not go into politics. If you know what is there, you won’t even dare it. What is dirty about it? Is it dirty to say that I want to serve my fatherland? This shows that there is something there that when they call on somebody like you, you will say you are not interested because you need to belong, you need to join a cult, you do this and you do that. That is why you have rogues and hooligans as politicians. That is why you see them in the house fighting and throwing chairs.
“You can imagine a human being using cutlass to cut another person’s head as if he is a cow or goat. You don’t do such things in developed countries. Where are the law enforcement agents? Where is the government? It is very unfortunate. It is a serious trauma. You just imagine losing somebody dear to you. Somebody leaving the house and do not come back and you continue to hope and hope that he is coming back and eventually, he does not return. It is better imagined than experienced,” he submitted.
Police, Lagos State government react
The Nigerian Police Force and the Lagos State government have, however, cautioned against jungle justices. They advised the people to hand over suspects to the appropriate authorities instead of taking laws into their own hands.
Ms. Ngozi Braide, the Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos Command, said the police would no longer condone such acts and would deal decisively with anybody arrested for engaging in such act. “Members of the public should not take laws into their own hands by lynching or burning suspected kidnappers. The police would not condone such . Anybody caught doing that will face the wrath of the law,” she said.
She recalled how a man who was helping his neighbour to take her child to school was mistaken for a kidnapper and was brutally dealt with by a mob.
“I got a call from the Divisional Police Officer of Shasha that a man in the neighbourhood was almost lynched because a little girl who he was taking to school began to cry uncontrollably. Before the man knew what was happening, a mob had descended on him and beaten him up mercilessly.
“They were about setting him ablaze when help came his way. It was later discovered that he was not a kidnapper. He was only helping the mother of the child to take her to school and while on their way, the little girl started crying like many little children that would not want to go to school.
“If help did not come the way of the man early enough, they would have set him ablaze and wasted his life for no good reason. This is why we have always warned members of the public to desist from taking laws into their own hands. It is wrong to lynch and burn suspects. We have emergency numbers that members of the public can always call when they suspect anything around them. We would always respond immediately and deal with the situation professionally.
“Members of the public should make good use of these distress call numbers: Control One, Oduduwa GRA Ikeja, 08060357795, Control Two Alausa: 08065154338; Control Three (CCTV) 5HG 08063299264and Control Four Alausa 08039344870 whenever the need arises.”
The Lagos State Government has also warned residents of the state to desist from meting out instant punishment or jungle justice by lynching, burning or killing suspected child abductors and other criminals.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, warned that the full weight of the law would be brought to bear on anyone caught engaging in jungle justice, no matter what the alleged criminal could have done.
He said that the state government totally condemns these attacks, adding that the suspects might easily have been wrongly accused.
‘Even if they did commit the alleged offence, there is a process for prosecuting and showing the evidence in court so that proven criminals can be properly punished according to law,” he said.
He said further that just as kidnapping and other criminal acts were condemnable, it was equally unacceptable for citizens to take laws into their own hands by summarily punishing or killing those suspected of any criminal act.
“The mob may well be wrong and the helpless victim may be anyone’s child or relative. Even if the mob was right, instant justice could never be the answer in any civilised community,” he stated.
