Jungle Justice On The Streets of Our World

By Abraham Favour Olohigbe

    "Ole!!! Ole!!!!” That was what we woke up to on a bright Saturday morning at Egbeda. My siblings and I were already used to this so the next line of action was to all put on our Slippers, run out of the gate, and join the onlookers. More than three able-bodied men chased a boy who looked like he was in his late teens, he wore a blue tee shirt and khaki shorts. By my side was Iya Ramota's daughter who was saying “She ko n she Saheed aburo Bisi niyen?” (Is that not Saheed the younger brother of Bisi?). Well, that wasn’t any of my business, I was there for the 'vawulence’.

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     Even though, I was there for the 'vawulence’I rooted for him not to be caught, If he was caught then kelegbe (he is in trouble). After asking questions I found out what went missing on Buka's street was just a cup of garri which was worth about #60 at Iya Aduke's. Later that evening I heard that he had been caught and that as they were about to put rims of tires around his neck, Iya Aduke revealed that it was her daughter that took it for her breakfast. My thought was what if he had been killed?

    Jungle justice is a very rampant and rash judgment by Nigerians, I remember I was in a car on a particular day and I was perceiving the aroma of suya; the Nigerian beef jerky. On getting to a point, I found out what the aroma was, Hmmmm, it was the burnt remains of two thieves who stole an okada. I wonder what people think the Constitution is for when jungle justice is now the justice for the day. If there is any suspicion that you stole something and there isn’t any evidence to back it up, the next thing is that you will bundled and rimmed with tires and then burnt to death, and if anyone tries to help you, then such a person is burnt with you. They try to justify these evil deeds by saying the justice system is corrupt but what about the amount of innocent people they have made to suffer or even killed? People do not care for human lives anymore. Human beings are killed daily like chickens and there isn’t any sign of remorse. Imagine waking up one morning and seeing a decapitated burnt body on your way to work, whose parts have been taken by many for rituals after being burnt to death.

    Truly the heart of man is desperately wicked. A fellow human life is blown off like the light on a candle. I wonder when all this will stop on the streets of our world. When the right steps will be taken to get justice? When would we all trust the justice system? For now, my questions yield no answers but I believe I’ll wake up one day and it will all be answered.