•Ashafa
PERHAPS the police and other security agencies will act on the resolution of the Senate to deal decisively with the disturbing incidences of mob action.
To say that mob action is gradually but steadily taking root in parts of the country may be to put it mildly. The list of those given the jungle justice treatment is endless.
What is even more worrisome is the report that security agents, more often than not, look the other way in the face of mob action.
The troubling phenomenon prompted the Senate on Tuesday to cry out loudly to anyone who cares to listen.
The upper chamber particularly asked the police and other security agencies to wake up from their apparent slumber to save Nigerians from avoidable deaths.
It expressed grave concern that mobs have arrogated to themselves the power to condemn others to death and execute judgement without recourse to the law courts in different parts of the country.
The Senate, which unanimously resolved to “condemn in totality these abhorrent acts of barbarism,” feared that anarchy may envelope the country if the trend was not halted forthwith.
It expressed worry about the growing trend, especially the case of a young man recently lynched in the Orile area of Lagos State for alleged stealing.
The resolution followed a motion by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) and Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (Borno South) on the need to “Condemn the rising cases of jungle justice in the country.”
Senator Ashafa in his lead debate said he is “horrified that the rising barbaric acts are in most cases, perpetrated with a crowd of people watching unperturbed. He lamented that the dreadful trend is “most disheartening and frightening as each act dehumanizes us as a race.”
He asked the Attorney General of the Federation, the State Attorney Generals and the Police to show greater sense of duty in diligent apprehension and prosecution of offenders.
Senator Ndume who seconded the motion said, “The case of a seven year old in Orile Lagos has gone viral; that is why myself and the mover of the motion said we should ask the police to confirm or deny because sometimes social media messages can be faulty.“But we are all witnesses to a known fact in 2012; four students of the University of Port Harcourt who were gruesomely murdered and it went viral and it is a case we don’t even know where it stopped and similar cases like this continue and I want to even say that disorderliness and mob action in our society is moving very close to us.
Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) in his contribution said, “It is quite unfortunate that mob justice is becoming a way of life in our communities, towns and in villages and I can directly attribute it to the loss of confidence between the people, the government and the law enforcement agencies,” he said.
For Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, “If you look at the context of this motion, some of the issues are really pathetic but it is very clear and evident that it shows loss of confidence of the people in the security agencies to defend them so they resort to self defence, which I think is a bad omen for this government and this country.”
Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, warned that a nation where people take laws into their hands is a very dangerous situation. The Senate, he said, must work to ensure that the rule of law is always strictly adhered to.
