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Justice without judges: Nigeria’s ticking mob violence time bomb
Over the years, Nigerians, in their hundreds, have had lives abruptly terminated following unremitting cases of mob violence. In this report, LADESOPE LADELOKUN examines Nigeria’s deadly jungle justice crisis, where unverified accusations, public frustration, distrust in institutions and weak law enforcement fuel mob killings and undermine the rule of law
With black oil rubbed all over his body, shirtless Sunday Abumere(not real name) appeared set for a phone theft operation at Hall 3, Ugbowo main campus of the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State.According to Kuyoro Adeolu, a Student Union Government parliamentarian at the time, his intervention, he told Sunday Telegraph, saved Abumere from being lynched by angry students, who had already been frustrated by the recurring cases of phone theft at the hall that used to be a male-only hostel.
“Students were already hitting him with sticks and iron rods. They were ready to kill him because there were several complaints then in Hall 3 about stolen phones. They already had anger bottled up in them.So, when they saw a source of their frustration, they would not let him go without killing him. He came under the cover of darkness, with black oil all over his body and just shorts. Unfortunately for him, someone was coming from a night class.
So, he caught him. He was trying to steal a phone in his room. That was how people were coming from different places. “So, myself and some SUG guys went to call potters. They manage the hostels. But they could not handle the issue.We were told to go to Hall 1 or Hall 2 to fetch security officers. Most times, you would find them in these female hostels at that time. “So, we went there and we were able to rescue the guy. That was the reason they didn’t even kill him that day.