The Reign of Jungle Justice

The resort to self-help by residents of Ikorodu in the last few days is both worrisome and disturbing. No fewer than six people have so far been beaten to a pulp and burnt alive in what was termed retaliation against members of the Badoo cult said to have killed about 29 people in total in 15 attacks carried out between June 5, 2016 and June 29, 2017.

First to be hacked to death were three people at Ogijo, Igbo-Oluwo area of Ikorodu about a week ago and barely three days after, another three suspects were burnt alive, including a comedian, Chinedu Paul otherwise known as “MC Think Twice”, said to have been mistaken for a member of the killer group. Paul and others were burnt at the Odonginya area of Ikorodu by angry residents.

This resort to banality is indefensible under whatever guise and cannot be condoned by the state. Whilst the anger and anguish of the people are understandable, the resort to jungle justice in the name of self-help is not permitted or guaranteed under the laws of the land and therefore condemnable in its totality. The police must take this criminal act seriously, because it is a crime, and ensure that a few people are taken in as scapegoats to serve as deterrent to the irrational lot, who derive pleasure in such primitive madness.

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