The increased frenzy in media reports of jungle justice on the streets of Nigeria gives serious cause for concern.
Please note that I said “increased frenzy in media reports” and NOT the jungle justice itself; for that has always been with us like the saying goes, “from time immemorial”! That the media is now merely giving the despicable practice of “jungle justice” more front-page treatment’ is commendable because that is part of the expectations or even obligations of developmental journalism.
I put the responsibility for the growing incidences of “jungle justice” squarely and unapologetically at the doorstep of the government. You cannot sow wind and not expect to reap whirlwind. The multiplier effects of state-sponsored violence over the decades have not only manifested in jungle justice reminiscent of what obtains in banana republics, but also in violent agitations from different segments of the society such as students’ movement, ethnic militias, religious extremists, hiding under one genuine (or spurious) cause or the other to unfurl destruction, confusion in many cases. These beastly acts on society lead to fear and uncertainty, while the government hopelessly and helplessly looks elsewhere in unjustifiable abandonment of the people.
The Nigeria state has demonstrated bewildering tolerance, encouragement and actual involvement and execution of violence in some instances; so much so that it is widely held, though erroneously, among the populace that the ONLY language government understands is VIOLENCE!
Nigeria’s history, for long, has been dotted by the ugly spectre of unmitigated violence by “unknown soldiers”! Ironically, or appropriately (?), Fela sang in one of his albums on the invasion of his house, “we have unknown soldiers, we have unknown civilians, all equal to unknown government”; a larger percentage of the populace has therefore, turned into “unknown civilians”, executing instant “jungle justice” based entirely and regrettably on the spur of the moment and desperate resort to self-help.
Another pertinent example is Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian dramatist, playwright, author, poet and environmental activist who had to pay the supreme price with his life. In the strides of activists like Martin Luther King Jr., Indira Ghandi and so on, Ken, as he was popularly called, embarked on non-violent agitation to draw attention to the environmental degradation of his immediate community and the danger of the Ogoni people, using the instrumentality of arts, including his peculiar writing prowess, to draw global attention and demand for justice, equity, fairness and other fundamental human rights for his people as enshrined in the UNDHR of 1948, and to which Nigeria was and still, a signatory!
What happened to Ken? He was murdered by the state via a fait accompli military tribunal without an option of appeal. It must not be lost on us that this same military government seized the reigns of governance in the first place, by violence. In Fela-speak, they will qualify as a sort of “unknown government”
Another instance of state-sponsored violence is what happened in Lagos and in fact, all over the country, around July 4 –7, 1983. There was a nationwide protest organized by the Campaign for Democracy (CD) over the inexplicable annulment of the June 12, 1983 presidential elections won by Bashorun M.K.O Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), an election which was adjudged as the fairest and freest presidential elections in the annals of Nigeria till date? To quell the protest, the military despot, Sani Abacha, called out the soldiers to repress ‘armless’ protesters. Nearly 200 civilians were killed on the streets of Lagos and hundreds of others across the country!
Perhaps as a sadistic icing of the cake, Abiola himself was eventually murdered just like his outspoken wife, Alhaja Kudirat Olayinka Abiola, who was shot in broad daylight on a the street of Lagos by a certified sniper who later became an “Unknown” sniper as part of the ploy by the state to cover up the killing!
As can be deduced from the fore-going, our history is littered with open and clandestine killings, violence and incivility by the state and its agents known for what Fela called “sorrows, tears and blood”.
So, jungle justice has been planted, continuously nurtured, and has been subconsciously engrained in our national psyche by the state!
One more example will draw home my point; a worker in a textile factory located in Isolo was unlawfully shot and killed by trigger-happy policemen at a checkpoint, some time, in the early nineties on his way to work. The police authority duly arrested the officer and locked him up. The victim, I found out had eight children. As the then coordinator of Ikotun/Idimu Unit of CDHR, I contacted Barrister Femi Falana, and we visited the family house of the deceased. We held discussions with his elder brother, explained our mission and readiness to prosecute the case free of charge. You know what? The senior brother of the deceased told us not to worry that he will use Psalms (in the Bible) to finish the man! This is to illustrate the lack of trust citizens have in the judicial system.
But as the religious books’ finishing-up options got somewhat delayed, people are now resorting to immediate self-help via “jungle justice”. Students would rather destroy school properties before seeking audience with the management. Ethnic militias, for example, will rather blow up petroleum pipelines in order to get government attention. Political office holders would rather use armed youths and organizations to settle scores with opponents than to engage in any intellectual debate based on people-oriented manifestos.
Undoubtedly, we need a total overhaul of the judicial system, massive reorientation of the populace, opening up the democratic space for accelerated and easy access to justice, popular and evidently efficient and effective alternative dispute resolution mechanism, and a government with demonstrated zero tolerance for violence at all levels.
Until then, the bestial, base and horrific issue of jungle justice will not abate. The populist, flash-in-a-pan scape-goating of erring officers has turned out to be what it is: abysmal failure!
A community, state, region, or nation engulfed by violence is a levelling respecter of nobody! No one is spared by the consequences of violence, either directly or indirectly in its ugly, negative multipliers.
With the recent bewildering reports of “jungle justice”, cultism, ritualistic practices, and violence across the nation, the time to seek for alternative ways of social re-engineering is now or NOW!
- Oladunjoye, journalist, sent this from Ijebu-Itele, Ogun State.
