Inadvisability Of Animalistic Tendencies To Jungle Justice

It hurts my heart and disturbs me to see how some Nigerians can turn out to be so infuriated and pugnacious in situations, with the hope of achieving instant gratification, to the point where they deem it right and defensible to carry out extrajudicial actions and injure or take the life of another; a criminal act which is commonly referred to as jungle justice.

Deborah and David
It would be recalled that in June 2016 that 74-year-old Mrs. Bridget Agbaheme was brutally murdered in cold blood in Kano. Her alleged ‘blasphemy’ was that she objected to an ablution by some Muslim youths, right in front of her shop, at Kofar Wambai market, Kano, in broad daylight.

In another gory incident that is worth making reference to in this context is that of a 24 year-old trader, Methodus Chimaeje Emmanuel, who was killed in Pandogari, Rafi LGA, Niger State, for alleged blasphemy.

In the same vein, at Kauri, Kaduna, 41-year-old carpenter, Francis Emmanuel, was brutally pounced on for not partaking in a Ramadan fast. Recall also that Gideon Akaluka, a young Igbo trader, was, in 1995, revoltingly and dreadfully beheaded in Kano, allegedly for blaspheming the Holy Quran. His decapitated head was grisly paraded about on Kano streets, on a pole.

Besides the forgoing gory incidents that collectively has ethno-religious coloration, an item of news was reported in conventional newspapers and on online news platforms yesterday, and on subsequent newscasts, that a sound engineer, David Imoh was gruesomely murdered by some commercial motorcyclists over the weekend.

The mobbing of Imoh was insensitively perpetrated despite the uproar and hullabaloo that trailed the killing of Deborah Samson, a 200 level female student od ShehuShagari College of Education, over an allegation of blasphemy against Muhammed, a prophet of Islam. The deceased was violently stoned to death and later set ablaze by the angry mob, who are mostly students of the college.

While the most Nigerians condemned the heartless and criminal act of jungle justice perpetrated against Deborah, the Church, like the police, has not been doing enough to prevent and stridently condemn such an act against alleged criminals. What surprises me as well is that I am not hearing consistent, aggressive and collective outcry and condemnation coming from law-abiding citizens, political leaders and the business community.

Given the foregoing backdrop, it won’t be wrong to suggest in this context that the police and leaders of our country should take a stand and send a strong message to perpetrators of jungle justice, so as to enforce the full force of the law as it is done on other criminals. If society turns a blind eye to jungle justice, which often affect innocent victims, then it will engender devastation, including the promotion of extrajudicial killings as a heroic or a glamorous activity, which will result in the senseless loss of life and injury to victims.

It is quite understandable for us to get angry and demand swift justice when persons trespass against us; society frowns upon criminal activity, but natural justice and due process must prevail and those who transgress the laws of our land must suffer the legal consequences.

Without recourse to being brash in this context, it is expedient for the government to give right-thinking and law-abiding citizens the opportunity to carry out their civic duties and report those citizens who carry out jungle justice, since they are nothing but angry, vicious and heartless criminals for arrogating to themselves the power to punish wrongdoers, in the absence of reasonable self-defense.

It is expedient to note that our democracy depends on putting a stop to this act of internal terrorism carried out by criminal members of the society, and the police, church leaders, business community and political leaders must collectively act now against jungle justice.

To exterminate jungle justice from the society, it is expedient to recommend in this context that security agencies should be given free hand to do their professional duties despite suspicion. Jungle justice is a situation where room is not given for proper judgment. In the face of jungle justice some law abiding citizens are lynched without any trial. The law of the jungle is a situation where people are prepared to harm other people in order to succeed. It is also the idea that people who care only about themselves will ensure they succeed in a society or organization; we hope for the world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of people.

It is true that there are criminals. But that does not make everyone a criminal. In any killing, there is a motive. And that is why proper investigation is mandatory for the recent jungle justice that was perpetrated against Deborah in Sokoto. So far, there is sketchy information about what led to the killing of the student. All those involved in the mob that caused the death of the have been declared wanted by the police, even as some of them have been apprehended. To my view, I suggest all her classmates should be arrested and screened to get to the root of the matter that led to her killing.

Seen from a wider perspective, traditional rulers of various communities who are invariably custodians of the law in their domains. A situation where community leaders do not know jurisprudence is worrisome. Traditional rulers should work in tandem with the security operatives. In doing that there will be proper or smooth dispensation of justice which in turn eases the work of the judiciary.

Why is the foregoing contextual recommendation being made? The answer cannot be farfetched as Jungle justice is an aberration to the legal justice system of any nation, and therefore should not be encouraged or practiced in the country. For instance, the parents of the slain Deborah are grieved about the merciless killing of their daughter need nothing at the moment than justice for the killing of their daughter.

At this juncture, it is expedient to say that while will strive for justice, we should always have the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson that say, “A mob cannot be a permanency: everybody's interest requires that it should not exist, and only justice satisfies all” at the back of our mind rather than resorting to animalistic tendencies, and arrogating the dispensation of justice to ourselves.

Sandra Ijeoma Okoye (Author)