Opinion: Of mob justice, the Boy (7 or 17) and our road to anarchy

by Aigbokhan Emmanuel

On Nov. 16, a rather gruesome video detailing the lynching of a “7 year old boy” circulated social media. As expected the video sparked outrage among those who received and watched as well as those who could not muster the courage to watch– a category to which I belong. Withal, I felt as appalled as those who watched, even more so.

The video came with a series of narratives. The first being it was, of course a child, who was lynched for stealing “common garri”. At first thought, I was filled with rage – so much so that right in that moment, if I got irritated just a little bit by anybody or anything, I was ready to retaliate by a thousand fold – call it transferred aggression, if you would.

On second thought, I found the narrative to be somewhat inconsistent as – he was a child who stole “common garri”. Considering our piousness as a people, not even the most despicable Nigerian will allow a child be burnt – at our own black circular stake (tyre) – for stealing garri. Then I began to doubt the credibility of the story. Something was most definitely missing. The dots did not connect.

And quickly came clarity along with one of the many narratives that followed – a narrative that revealed the male victim in the video to be a grown man and notably, a violent criminal. Finally, the dots connected. Said narrative identifies the victim as an “alleged” phone thief whose den of operations was the notorious Orile bus stop. Said narrative also gave an insight into circumstances as well as events that transpired and culminated in the death of the victim by the hands of “the mob”

After digesting this narrative (which of course seems the most likely of the litany of narratives), I completely understood how a bunch of Nigerians (a people after God’s own heart; as we like to think) tapped into their inner darkness to gruesomely murder (emphasis on “gruesomely” as I still cannot get myself to watch the video) a man.

Having passively experienced mob justice on numerous occasions; some of which the victims died, I intuitively erred on the side of the mob and for a brief moment reveled in what I describe as a “false truth” – that justice had been served. And then it dawned on me – mob justice is not justice, it is a pseudonym for justice at best.

After carefully aligning my thoughts, I was riotous as to the frequency with which we as a society often delve into darkness in search for justice and retribution. You can blame it on our collective insensitivity and lack of empathy but a large chunk of the blame falls on the government and our policing systems. After decades of failure on their part, we no longer trust.

Social media outrage on this recent publicized lynching will ebb and this case will most likely be swept under the carpet (I pray I am wrong). But our collective focus as a nation should tilt towards building strong institutions (the police). Failure to do so will bring anarchy right to our door step.


Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

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