Nigeria, the Country Where Mob Action is Slowly Replacing Justice

A nation where mob action seems to be the only alternative to justice, the innocent will continue to cry for some justice. Mob action is increasingly becoming a recurring decimal in Nigeria.

From the rampaging Fulani herdsmen and retaliatory attacks from the host communities across the federation to the protracted Boko Haram menace which has crippled the North East and other security challenges in the East and South, it is innocent Nigerians that are displaced and left to bear the brunt.

Apapa, one of the commercial nerve centers of Lagos State was in the news for the wrong reasons Wednesday, July 19th. It was over the killing of a truck driver by a police man said to be working around to one of the new generation banks at Creek road, Apapa, over disagreement in parking space. What started as an argument and an exchange of words between a police man and a truck driver has left a bitter taste to people doing business in the area, banks and other lock up shops are still counting their losses as irate mobs suspected to be tanker truck drivers went on rampage killing, maiming people and in the process, burnt down 3 new generation banks. Lock up stores and other personal belongings like cars, and properties were vandalized and razed.

Many are still counting their losses in millions of naira over what could have been avoided and without anyone to be held responsible.

While I join Nigerians to condemn the killing of a tanker truck driver by a police man, such a show of shame should be avoided in its entirety, we shouldn’t make jungle justice our last resort or be seen taking laws in our hands. Razing down about 3 new generation banks and other businesses in retaliation is not enough and won’t bring back the dead and may not even solve what led to the killing of the driver. We should learn to channel our anger or complaint to the appropriate authorities without shutting down our economies. The tanker drivers would have resorted to other means of protesting the killing of one of their members. A day’s strike is not enough to shut down the nation’s economy, that’s one of many ways to channel their grievances without breaking law and order. While the affected banks and other businesses in the area are counting their losses, we should in strong terms lend our voices in condemning mob actions in our nation. Such recurring mob justice shouldn’t be allowed to reign supreme. Our security agencies should also improve in managing crisis. They are recruited to protect and not to kill us.