When Timilehin left his house for the market he never anticipated any trouble. He was a fresh 100 level university student who went to the popular Yaba market to pick up clothes which he would take to school.
The 20-year-old was full of hope and looking forward to life as a Jambite at the Lagos State University, but unbeknownst to him, fate would deal him a blow.
“On my way to the market to buy clothes that I would take to the university, I saw people running and I kept pushing. They were shouting ole, ole (thief). I was wondering what happened. Someone pointed at me that he is the one, he is the one. They pounced on me; started beating me up. I passed out and opened my eyes in a hospital with a fractured leg,” he said.
Timilehin is now a youth corper and one of the few survivors of an angry mob which was very fast in meting out judgement on the street without proof.
They say two wrongs do not make a right, but in the case of a suspected criminal this dictum is rarely applied, and all too often jungle justice has been allowed to prevail.
Instant karma
Jungle justice is a punishment meted out by individuals without any legal authority to a suspected criminal, whose life is often snuffed out by a stick and stone-wielding mob.
But should such treatment be given to a fellow human being in this era of civilization, and has it reduced the crime rate in the country? These are vital questions that need answers.
“I was driving by when I saw some people pummelling a young boy with stick and before I could get there, the boy was thrown into a gutter with blood coming out of his head and mouth. He was accused of witchcraft. I quickly took to my heels and drove away before I am held responsible for the beaten. Those boys had dispersed from the scene,” Emmanuel Udo John told NAIJ.com.
Gory tales
In 2012, the lives of four young aspiring University of Port Harcourt students were snatched away by a mob. Chidiaka, Ugonna, Tekana and Lloyd were falsely accused of stealing and were lynched to death in the community of Aluu in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.
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