SIR: Something terrible happened Wednesday, September 27, 2023. On that day, in Jos, the capital of Plateau State, a state that has known no little chaos since the early 90s, a young man, Fwinbe Gofwan, set about his usual business. Right in the glare of the midday sun, which bore down with relentless intensity, Fwinbe was accused of stealing the car he actually owned. There and then, one of Nigeria’s hastily constituted mob courts, made up of some of Nigeria’s most vicious criminals, tried him. The mob court only leashed their stones and bloodlust when they felt the life drained out of Fwinbe.
In the immediate aftermath of Fwinbe’s death, shock coursed through all who knew him. His schoolmates at the University of Jos and the College of St. Joseph, Vom, his friends and family in Jos and beyond, and even those who knew him only in death.
As emotions dictate when a wound is still fresh and raw, the authorities promised to bring his killers to book. More than four months later, the investigation risks running the futile race of similar investigations in Nigeria, which collectively tell the story of a country where there is no justice.
In May 2022, a seemingly innocuous audio recording on Whatsapp in the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto set off an inferno. By the time the flames were doused, 22-year-old Deborah Samuel, accused of blaspheming religion had been burnt beyond recognition. While alarm bells chimed across the country, Deborah’s killers found defenders in some highly placed religious leaders. Until this day, the perpetrators of the heinous crime have not been duly punished.
Crime is infectious. Once a crime is successful somewhere, it is only a matter of time before it is repeated elsewhere with chilling efficiency. Despite the conspicuous presence of regular courts in Nigeria, mob courts still thrive and with the swiftness and ruthlessness of their proceedings and punishment, they indict Nigeria’s regular courts.
In the frenzy they whip up and in the chaos they conjure where everyone wielding a stone or a stick, is an emergency judge, jury witness or prosecutor, the accused is not allowed a word in what is perhaps the gravest defilement of the sacred pillars of natural justice.
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Many Nigerians prefer the kind of justice the mob courts dish out. In a country overrun by criminals, where the wheels of justice turn painfully slow, the speed of the mob courts manned by vile criminals leaves many incredulous but satisfied. At the mob courts, all that is needed is an accusation arrowed with enough hysteria and theatrics. Swift punishment usually follows. No witnesses are called or questioned, no objections are entertained, no evidence is tendered, and no adjournments are taken. Nigeria is such a country.
Where are Fwinbe’s killers now? Presumably running free and wild, patiently waiting for the mob court to reconvene.
In a country where there is no justice, killers lurk in every corner waiting for the next kill. In such a country, criminals are adept enough to slip through the cracks in the system and cunning enough to sit on Nigeria’s mob courts.
Like many before him, Fwinbe’s ghost will continue to haunt Nigeria until his killers are brought to book. The dying gasps of a young man described by those who knew him as the essence of decency and dignity will continue to rattle all those who picked up stones, and those who remain as still as stones I’m positions of authority while his killers mill about.
A country that looks away while death ferries away its citizens is as gutless as a mother hen that refuses to fight back when the hawk preys on her chicks.
- Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com