Thursday, February 20, 2014

I hope you never witness jungle justice – Nse Ikpe Etim

Even though there are laws we as global citizens create to help coordinate our daily livelihood and provide equity for all, they can sometimes be wantonly flouted to barbaric extent.

Below is a chilling encounter Nse Ikpe Etim once witnessed:

“I’ll tell you my experience #JungleJustice.I took a night bus to Aba some years ago from Abuja to the fabric market…After I had walked around and seen for myself, I went back to the park and decided to have a beer. I brought out my laptop and started writing…trying to blend in so I don’t look out of place. I was scared but knew that in a few hours, I would be back home.

As I took a swig from my bottle and turned to my laptop, in a flash…someone had lifted the bottle in pursuit of a young man.
I heard screams of ‘onye oshi’ ‘thief’…that’s when I realized that the woman screaming had been robbed of her purse..The woman claimed she had only N200 and an umbrella in the purse. They pursued him, caught him and put a tire on his neck. They poured fuel on him and all I could do was beg the officers there to help him. They looked at me funny and struck the match.

My journey to the nation’s capital was no longer the adventure I hoped it would be, it was my worst nightmare. This isn’t a movie… I’m talking about Jungle Justice in Nigeria. I think it’s sickening and sad. We cannot lose our humanity. If a man does wrong, please seek the hands of the law. Taking the law into your hands is barbaric and that’s not what we should be.

What’s your take on Jungle Justice? Let’s talk!”

Posted by GhanaGist

1 comment:

  1. Well, as a young boy growing up in Ogungbe Street in Ajegunle, in Lagos State with my Nigerian Dad. I have witnessed a lot of "Jungle Justice" at its peak. It didn't helped the situation back then. Then came the vigilantism and crime-fighting self-determination groups. Their constant activities of being our watch towers really helped to reduced the rate of crime back then. But the instant judgement on the perpetrators was horrible. I still have those images flashing in my mind as a grown up man. I couldn't agree with you less, "Jungle Justice" should be abolished and lets allow the law to take its course instead of taking the laws into our own hands.

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