Let him go! The food vendor shouted but it was already too late because Mr. Sunday had kissed the earth.
Mr. Sunday had just received the news of the birth of his son and left his office to get some food stuff and dash into the hospital. He got to a food vendor’s spot and ordered for rice and stew because that is what his wife had requested when the spoke last on the phone. The food vendor packaged the food into a take-away foil and gave it to Mr. Sunday who was waiting to receive it. He smiled and dished his hands into his pocket and brought out a clean #500 Nigerian note and gave it to the vendor, she took the money and while Mr. Sunday turn to board a cab, he heard the vendor shouting ole! Ole! Ole! (A Yoruba word that means Thief).
Just like a flash, hoodlums ran towards Mr. Sunday who didn’t understand what was going on, struggled to free himself from the firm grip of the any mob. He tried explaining that he wasn’t a thief and that he had paid for what he bought but no one was listening to him. The food vendor on the other hand claimed that he didn’t pay her. The hoodlums got a tire and hung it on his neck, next he was baptized with fuel and set ablaze.
He ran with the fire all over him, Mr. Sunday cried, he shouted but it was too late and while he lied helpless close to the gutter, the fire had squeezed him into something no one could recognize, just then the food vendor shouted to every-one that she had seen the money close to her cooler. At that point, every-one felt so sorry and tried making excuses to justify why they had taken the laws into their hands and to further justify their actions.
An innocent man is gone because of the carelessness of another, what news will his son grow up to hear?
How will his wife feel about the news?
What is Jungle Justice?
This is a situation where people take laws into their hands by killing people extrajudicially. This could also be referred to as “mob justice”
Jungle justice should be averted at all cost, in Nigeria a whole lot of people have lost their lives and that of their loved ones because of being accused wrongly or a mistaken identity. If you visit the internet, you’ll see the stories of people who have been victims of this. What breaks my heart the most is that after all of this, the truth will eventually find its way into the open and this people will be innocent.
Let the police have their way in any crime, no matter how long they take, the damages will not be so great and painful to the living ones and the family of the affected persons.
Jungle justice is a threat to national security and must be stopped. Our country is not a jungle so let’s debunk the myopic mentality and fight correctly. Let’s fight together and look out for each other.
Every-one deserves a fair hearing!
It’s my first time here and I hope you found this post useful.
