As bad as it is, jungle justice is becoming part of our lives
But for the fortuitous intervention of the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, last Wednesday, a Nigerian citizen would most likely have met an untimely death in the hands of two airforce cadets who took the laws into their own hands. The ugly incident, which is not an isolated one, underscores the growing menace of jungle justice in our country heightened by the fact that the perpetrators most of the times are people who ordinarily should defend the law.
While we commend Governor Ambode for his vigilance, it should indeed worry those in authority that Nigeria is gradually descending to the Hobbesian state of nature where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. Yet the rule of law, as opposed to that of the jungle, presupposes that anybody accused of a crime, however heinous, is entitled to a fair trial before punishment could be meted if found guilty. But as more and more Nigerians shun the instrumentality of the law in the settlement of disputes, many innocent people are getting maimed and killed.
In the instant case, the cadets – Peters O. Solomon and Abdullahi Fahad–who claimed to be attached to the Airforce Base in Ikeja, had forced an artisan, Dahiru Lawal, into the boot of their car after dragging him on the ground for breaking the windscreen of their vehicle. “What happened is that the boy broke the windscreen in front of my car. When I stopped, I asked him to come, the boy ran away. We had to drag him back and put him in the boot,” explained one of the cadets who apparently didn’t see anything wrong in what they did.
While the victim did not deny damaging the windscreen of the vehicle accidentally, he said he bolted because he was afraid of what the cadets might do to him. “I ran into the market and they pursued me and caught me. I ran because I was afraid of what the cadets might do to me; while my boss and people around begged on my behalf, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. The police also came to plead with them to open the boot but they insisted on taking me away,” said Lawal.
It is unfortunate that military personnel would apply jungle justice in the settlement of a simple dispute, but if we will be honest, this is fast becoming a tradition. More unfortunate is the fact that such behaviour is not restricted to the military. Recourse to jungle justice is so pervasive that it is now an everyday occurrence and at all levels of the society. Yet the pertinent question that arises from such a state of affair is: When and how did we sink so low as a society?
We are not unmindful of the fact that due to its own contradictions, our judiciary does not seem capable of administering impartial justice and many people are gradually losing faith. However, under the rule of law, it is the sacred duty of the judiciary to safeguard the rights and liberty of the citizens while respecting such rights forms the bedrock upon which the society lays claim to civilisation. And the right to life is the ultimate measure of all rights.
While we demand that the erring airforce cadets be tried for aggravated assault on top of whatever punishment the military may deem fit for them for bringing the institution to disrepute, it is important that Nigerians rein in all impulses to self-help whenever they feel aggrieved.
