A Protest against Jungle Justice in Nigeria

Protocols.

Let me express my humble and profound gratitude to you all for the turn out on this historic event. With this, we have begun the journey to rescue Nigeria from a social malady, internal and external conflicts and moral degeneration.

Nigeria is in dire need of re-orientation of her citizens. There is a looming danger hovering around the future of this nation and we can’t afford to go to bed and watch our society degenerate into abuse of human lives, disrespect to the rule of law, intolerance to one another and the unwholesome practice of incivility and socio-economic decadence.

So our walk this morning is to address amongst other things, mob killings and jungle justice in Nigeria. The rules of the jungle are meant for the jungle. Nigeria is not a jungle and so killing people extra-judicially is unacceptable. We find the latest killing of the little boy in Orile and other killings across Nigeria intolerably repulsive and we have stepped out today to address the issue thereby calling on Nigerians to first desist from mob lynching as many innocent souls have been killed on account of this. Then we call on the various state governments and the Federal Government to enact laws that curb mob killings in Nigeria. The heavens weep for the souls of the victims who are set ablaze on account of jungle justice which is no justice really. We must redefine our values as a people. There are ways defined by law on how a suspect should be treated. We must at all times explore the option of the rule of law in all circumstances because some victims may be innocent. We must insist therefore on the rule of law.

Violence is an offshoot of a society that is not sure of her moral order. The incessant eruption of violence all over Nigeria has become a serious threat to national security. Apart from the insurgents in the North or the militants in the Niger Delta, the average Nigerian citizen on the street is a potential danger to his neighbours. Danger in the sense that people barely ask questions before they pick up the next available tyre to set someone ablaze who is alleged to have committed an offence. Countless people have been killed this way in Nigeria. Some years ago, students were killed brutally in Aluu in Rivers State through mob lynching.

Today, we rise to say never again! Never again shall we stand and watch people hacked to death by devious objectives. Never again! We are not unmindful that there are criminals in our midst and we are not out here to defend criminals. Anyone found guilty of crime must face the penalties but never again should they be decimated extra-judicially. Never again! We must let society know that jungle justice is a primordial order which promotes anarchy and suffocates the prescient structure of democracy. Never again should we repress the rule of law to promote the rule of jungle in a civil society.

As we march this afternoon, think of that little boy that wakes up every morning with rubbles of hunger in his stomach, that little girl with a faint voice, who has grown weary of being constantly raped by demons in human flesh, that woman enduring the pains of domestic violence, battered by a man she once fell in love with. What will happen to these people? Who will care for them? We must look within to ensure we are not abusers ourselves. Let us all take a vow to move in drones against social vices of all kinds in Nigeria. Let’s clean up this country for the next generation. Let this become your mandate; our mandate- our new resolution. It is important we do this now. Start from your homes, tell people it is wrong for humans to kill humans. Tell people to embrace the positive and encourage the communities to eschew violence and sexual abuse as we join hands to make Nigeria a great nation.

Let us entrench the embers of peace and vow to a new nation where peace and justice shall reign.

This is our vow!

Thank you.