The mob attack on Uduak Adams

THE pace at which the Nigerian society continues to exhibit symptoms of dysfunctionality, especially  those that verge on violence, is scary and unsettling. In addition to the spate of killings, maiming and extortion occasioned by  bandits, insurgents and other forms of  violence perpetrated by non-state actors, it is now customary, and sadly so, for a motley crowd to orchestrate a turbulent state resulting in injuries and destruction to its victims at the slightest excuse. To be sure, the law does not permit anyone to participate in or subject anyone to mob attack, no matter how seemingly strong the suspicion is that a suspect has committed an offence. The object is to obviate the veritable likelihood of miscarriage or perversion of justice that may ensue when anarchists, who tend to reason with any part of their body but their heads, illegally assume the role of an adjudicator. The mob attack on Adams, which almost claimed her life  recently but for the sheer intervention of fate, succinctly  exemplifies exactly what the law seeks to prevent  by frowning on jungle justice.

Adams, a lawyer based in Lagos State, was falsely accused of kidnapping the son of a woman in the area where she went to look for accommodation and was almost lynched  by an irate mob allegedly supported by  the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC). This shocking and hideous incident happened on Aborishade Street, Surulere. Uduak endured brutal assault during this ordeal: she was mercilessly flogged with a horsewhip, struck with planks, and subjected to numerous punches and kicks. Her accuser, now in detention, even called for her summary execution right on the spot. This young lawyer sustained severe damage all over her body, only to be vindicated right at the spot where she suffered this barbaric assault as the alleged kidnapped boy was found and he affirmed her innocence. Uduak, who could have been killed if the alleged victim was not around, is now in hospital and being treated for the grievous bodily injuries arising from the vicious but needless assault.

The veritable questions are: why this barbarity? Why this surge in proclivity for self-help and jungle justice? Why is violence becoming a new normal in the society?  Yes, the prevailing economic hardship that has apparently put many on edge, and distrust in the security agencies’ ability to promptly respond to reports of alleged crime and handle same optimally are rife, but this cannot explain away the pernicious inclination towards anarchy. And the logic is simple: the victims of anarchy are seldom the authors of economic hardship, so why visit the anger on a wrong party? Again, as sloppy as the security agencies may appear to be in the execution of their mandates, they can only be urged and helped to improve. They cannot be ignored or jettisoned, as they remain the only  reason the society has not slipped diametrically into chaos and lawlessness.

In other words, it is far better to tolerate the law enforcement agencies’ seeming inadequacies than to instigate mob action and justice that could occasion irreparable damage on a suspect who could thereafter be found to be innocent. This, indeed, would have been the case if  the mob in the instant case had hearkened to the plea for the summary execution of Adams by the mother of the supposed victim, who had orchestrated the accusation of kidnap that turned out to be phony in the first place. This unfortunate incident has once again brought to the fore the  utter uselessness of resorting to self-help and mob insitigation where misdemeanor is suspected, as there are rules and regulations for reporting suspicion to security agencies for appropriate follow-up actions.  It is trite that if you accuse anyone of wrongdoing in any civilised clime, you hand them over to law enforcement. Resorting to self-help is barbaric and uncivilised.  It has, therefore, become imperative for, and indeed we enjoin, Nigerians to have a return to the civilised method of handling suspicion by reporting such to security agencies rather than resorting to mob action and jungle justice under any pretext.

It is important to stress that self-help or anarchy cannot be justified under any guise, and that  it is a crime against the state to engage in mob action. And since the usual collective objective and shared vision of any geographical entity is to have a working and productive society and community fit for all, then the burgeoning culture of anarchy and jungle justice must be stamped out and yield ground to due process. That would happen only in a clime where all without exception – individuals, groups and corporates – hold themselves wholly in subjection to the rule of law.

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