* Security experts seek arrest, prosecution of culprits
Despite the outcry over the lynching of Deborah, a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto by fellow students and the killing of a 38-year-old sound engineer, Dave Imoh, by a mob of Okada riders in Lagos, jungle justice or mob action has become an untamed monster.
The scourge has even left security agents helpless and has become a daily occurrence. Section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 entitles every person to the right to life, and nobody has the power to unlawfully take another person’s life without the due process of the law. During mob actions, the mob serves as the prosecutor, the judge, the jury and the executioner. On Wednesday, the scourge reared its ugly head again at Magboro, Obafemi-Owode Local Council of Ogun State, when a mob lynched a suspected motorcycle thief and abandoned his corpse at Magboro end the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The decomposing remains of a yet-to-be-identified man were tucked between the road median. The deceased allegedly stole a motorcycle from someone at Arepo and when the person raised the alarm, the people ran after him, accosted and killed him. This came shortly, after a commercial sex worker, Hannah Saliu, was allegedly beaten to death and her corpse set ablaze for keeping the Holy Quran in her room in Alaba Rago area of Lagos State. Also, in April 2022, two alleged motorcycle thieves were lynched in Suleja in Niger State, just as an alleged kidnapper was killed by a mob in Kano.
In the same second week of May, a sound engineer, David Imoh, was mobbed and killed by Okada riders in the Lekki area of Lagos over an N100 dispute. These cases have raised concern among many Nigerians, as to the lack of respect for the sanctity of the human life. Convener of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the police need to be reinvigorated, revived, reformed and unbundled to enhance effectiveness, efficiency, proactive policing and hasten the response time in periods of critical emergencies. According to him, the police as recently constituted, reacts to incidents of crimes and criminality and lacked the skills for proactive and preemptive strikes to stop crimes from happening. “NPF, as it is now, is moribund because it lacks the necessary 21st-century compliant technologies for crime prevention and crime-fighting and most of the methods in use by the police are outdated and antiquated.
“Nigeria needs to rebuild the moribund policing institution that has long decayed. The way it is now, only the highest bidders and governors and other appointees in government at all levels and the wealthy who can pay are getting commercialised policing services. “For instance, governors’ wives go with battalions of armed police escorts. Governors go about with as many as 200 armed police escorts and even musicians, like Burna Boy, go about with five police operatives. “Despite the enactment of Police Act 2020, which is progressive, most police operatives don’t know the provisions contained in that beautiful law.
“Sadly, President Muhammadu Buhari is not predisposed to reforming or restructuring the police,” he added. Security analyst, Christopher Oji said: “Jungle justice is becoming too rampant. This is because no one has been sanctioned. “Political leaders should rise up and speak against it. Besides, our security agencies, especially the police, should live up to expectations, by arresting and dealing squarely with anyone caught in the act. When one person is used as an example, I think others will learn lessons that it is no longer business as usual.”
“Government has a lot to do. The government through the National Orientation Agency (NOA) should carry out an enlightenment campaign against jungle justice. They should do some jingles, which will be transmitted on the radio in local languages. The local government areas should also use vehicles to go from street to street to preach the evil of jungle justice and its punishment.”