Some Nigerians have condemned the menace of jungle justice in the country stating that it is a backward act that must be eradicated in the society.
Jungle justice is a form of self-help and an extrajudicial form of justice often carried out by angry mobs. It is an illegal and unconstitutional form of justice which does not regard the involvement of the police or other law enforcement agencies.
Some of the allegations against the victims of these mobs include, but not limited to: robbery, witchcraft, blasphemy and rape.
Jungle justice incidents are believed to be underreported due to the fact that it occurs often in remote areas.
According to SB Morgen’s report, 279 mob justice incidents happened, leading to the death of at least 391 individuals between 2019 and May 2022, of which 223 of the cases happened in the South while the remaining 168 occurred in the Northern part of the country.
Recently, a yet-to-be-identified suspected armed robber was beaten to death in Olugboso, the Agege area of Lagos State while attempting to rob a resident identified simply as Victor with a toy gun.
Speaking EXCLUSIVELY to NIGERIACRIME on the streets of Lagos, some Nigerians condemned extrajudicial form of justice but noted that due to previous experiences of deceit, residents have lost faith in the government, the police and the judiciary.
They noted that the failure of the government, police and judicial system is a very potent reason, because people no longer believe in the justice system of the nation.
For Emmanuel, who spoke at the Ogba area of the state, families of victims who have lost trust in the country’s justice system will have no other choice than take laws into their hands.
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“Jungle Justice have been the style of people trying to ask for justice. Sometimes, when justice is denied, the victims’ families feel cheated and when the people in authority that are supposed to take up the matter allow the culprit walk free, people will lose trust. So, people have lost interest and trust in the system – from judiciary and the police force in particular. Corruption has eroded the justice system. I don’t support jungle justice but in the present situation in the country, justice is being maneuvered so I won’t blame them for going the way of jungle justice,” he said.
MC FMC condemned the illegal killings of suspects but blamed the government for its inability and alleged lack of sincerity to prosecute suspects.
His words, “Jungle Justice is not the right way to go but people need to trust the system. The system has failed, that’s the truth. People feel that when they arrest politicians and socialites for crime, they release them without due process. When people now catch petty thieves, they transfer the anger to them and lynch them. It’s not something we should encourage so I think they government should build a workable system that can deal with criminals.”
However, some of the residents who spoke to this platform maintained that the government is not to blame for the crimes of the citizens.
“Everybody has a role to play in curbing unconstitutional form of justice. As humans, we must be disciplined and know what to do at the right time. This is largely dependent on our background; the environment and family we come from develops us into who we are and how we make judgments. Governments have a role to play as well, people who are supposed to be in school are roaming around and get exposed to a lot of things,” Tayo Alao said in Lagos
On her part, Mercy Ikenna, stressed that the experiences of people have build up a lot of anger amongst Nigerians.
She said, “It usually starts from uncontrolled anger. And before you know it, they have taken the laws into their hands instead of calling the proper authority to intervene.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with the government, it is all about humanity. I can’t imagine harming my fellow human. They government have a role to play but we cannot put the blame on them.”