THERE is a not so novel tactic in town: robbing people with false alarms of theft of manhood. It goes like this: amidst a crowd, say at a market or bus stop, someone screams that his manhood has been stolen and grabs the shirt of the alleged perpetrator. A crowd quickly forms and, amid the din, the protesting, shell-shocked accused person and other persons are robbed while the unsuspecting mob carries on its jungle justice. At other times, though, there is no indication of intended robbery, but the alleged victim still furnishes no evidence of organ theft even as the suspect is battered, sometimes beyond recognition.
Recently, a middle-aged man suspected to be a manhood thief was beaten to a stupor in Lokoja, Kogi State. The suspect had visited a shop behind Dunamis Church in Lokoja to purchase bread, but then the shop owner claimed to have felt certain shock in his body and thereafter touched his manhood, only to discover that it had disappeared. He screamed for help, then neighbours and passersby gave the suspect the beating of his life. Somehow, the suspect ‘confessed’ to the crime and the victim’s manhood miraculously returned to its place. A similar scenario caused the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command to issue a warning to residents against spreading false information about alleged disappearance of male organs in the territory. The command gave the warning after an irate mob killed a yet-to-be-identified man accused of stealing a teenager’s manhood in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT. A different person had earlier escaped lynching for alleged theft of manhood in the area.
According to the spokesperson of the FCT command, SP Josephine Adeh, the command received a distress call that a male adult was being lynched by irate youths for stealing the manhood of one 17-year-old John Ugwu on September 21. Adeh added: “The police operatives attached to Gwagwalada Police Divisional Headquarters swiftly mobilised to the scene, rescued and rushed the male adult to the hospital for medical attention, where he was later confirmed dead as a result of the severe injury inflicted on him on the pretext of a false allegation. The Commissioner of Police, CP Haruna Garba, warns of stringent measures against spreading false information and urges the public not to resort to mob justice. The FCT Police Command is committed to preserving peace and security.”
Adeh referenced the incident involving one Rokeeb Saheed, who had accused one Lucky Josiah of causing his male organ’s disappearance. According to her, after medical examinations, Saheed’s male organ was confirmed to be intact, while Josiah’s injuries were treated. In an earlier incident, on September 14, one Godwin, a commercial bus driver, was reported to have stolen the manhood of one Sadiq at Sabon-Tasha motor park in Abaji Area Council of the FCT. Sadiq claimed that Godwin, who was travelling with passengers from Zuba, Abuja, to Edo State, stopped over at Abaji, where he gave him a handshake and asked him where he could buy drinks. Shortly after that, his organ had disappeared, and then Godwin was “arrested” and battered by a mob that had quickly formed around the motor park. Godwin was later rescued by men of the police area command and set free after Sadiq, who was taken to hospital, confirmed that his manhood had returned. Hilarious!
The new, insidious fad of raising false alarms about the theft and disappearance of sex and other organs to cause confusion and disorder, with a ploy to create a conducive atmosphere for stealing and looting in any area, needs to be curbed, and very quickly too. Many innocent people have been dispatched to their graves on false allegations of organ theft, with their killers asking their accusers no questions. The simple, plain truth is that there has been no confirmed case of organ theft as yet: all the alarms so far investigated turned out to be false. It is important for the public to heed the police warning and nip this ugly trend in the bud. Doing otherwise constitutes grave danger to human life and the society. People should stop taking the law into their own hands, unwittingly helping criminals to rob and lynch innocent victims. Organ theft, even if proved, cannot and should not be resolved with mob rule. The police have done well in this particular regard and they deserve accolades for responding appropriately to the negative trend. They should not relent in their efforts to curb the menace.
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