Eke van Victor
Dark smokes from burning tyres ascending into the dark clouds, Whistles blasting from every corner of the communities, young men and women chanting and wielding cutlasses and sticks with torchlights in one hand. All these characterised the outbreak of the Badoo menace in Ikorodu exactly a year ago.
In several communities, families had been maimed in their sleep by the Badoo cult and residents of those communities have in turn taken to the streets to secure their lives and those of their household by staying up all night and setting tyres ablaze to scare the enemies away.
Whoever ran out of luck and was found loitering around the streets in the late hours of the night was immediately apprehended and judged by the angry mobs who on most occasions would beat the alleged culprit to death or even set them ablaze before the arrival of law enforcement agents.
Rapidly, the rate of jungle justice took a great rise in the state and the news only took the front burner when on this day last year; fast rising comedian Chinedu Paul popularly known as MC Think 2ice was found guilty by some angry mobs at Odogunyan, Ikorodu and was beaten and burnt to death alongside his two other mechanics who were allegedly fixing his car which had broken down at that area that night. The angry mob alleged that they found a big stone and black engine oil in his car; materials commonly seen with the Badoo cult.
However the following days greeted with similar incidents in the area until the government finally swung into action to curb the menace and subsequently apprehend the perpetrators of the heinous badoo attacks. Calm soon swept through the town and jungle justice seemed long gone.
One year down the line and there is yet another bloodshed in the town, one which as usual led to another mob action which fortunately didn't claim the life of any individual.
Over the weekend, a trailer load of Iron rods was said to have ran into two oncoming motorcycles, crushing a mother, her two children and the motorcylist. The fuming mob never cared to know who was or was not at fault as usual. They set the truck on fire and watched it burn to ashes. The driver of the truck was lucky to have escaped intact. Drivers plying during the time of the mob action said they only escaped the fire by a hairs breadth.
Though, the masses lack of trust in the law enforcement agencies and judiciary system has played a huge role in the sustenance of mob justice, it is pertinent to note that no matter how untrustworthy the law enforcement agencies may seem, jungle justice has never and will never be a better option.
In fact on several occasions, innocent people have been lynched to death for reasons they themselves don't know and unfortunately there is rarely a way to prove their innocence after they are killed. On some other occasions, justice is served to the right person but served incompletely.
However it pans out, there is no constitutional backing for mob action. Therefore people involved in such acts remain criminals under the law.
Tomorrow, It might be the turn of that neighbour who helped you out with transport fare or the young man who helped you fix your TV set or even the young lady who took off your clothes from the line when it was raining. Mob justice does not seek to know personality or details of who did what, It is an eye for an eye without wanting to know who took out your eyes in the first place.
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