Uromi Jungle Justice: The Broader Issues
…People of Edo State are faced with existential threat, and it is a clear and present danger
By Elempe Dele
The victims of the Uromi jungle justice were said to be hunters traveling from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Kano State for the Sallah celebrations. They were attacked and killed by a mob last Thursday in Uromi, Esan North East Local Government Area.
The unfortunate incident has sparked nationwide outrage, prompting swift action from security agencies and top government officials. So far, 14 suspects have been arrested, they are being moved to Abuja for interrogation, the Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholor, confirmed.
On Monday, the governor paid a condolence visit to his counterpart Abba Yusuf, in Kano State, over the killings. He assured the host governor about the swift actions that have been taken so far to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The brutal killings have been widely condemned by well-meaning Nigerians. President Bola Tinubu had given marching orders to security agencies to fish out those behind the killings.
“The President, who expressed shock at the dastardly act on Thursday, directed Police and other security agencies to conduct swift and thorough investigations and punish the suspected culprits,” presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said in a statement on Friday.
As we acknowledge the Babarism of this brutal killings that nudged the conscience of Nigerians, we must use the period to reflect on the broader issues that are associated with jungle justice, profiling, self-help, kidnappings, food insecurity and other sundry issues. We must deliberately ask questions that are closely and remotely associated with the sad event that happened on that dark Thursday that saw 16 humanities in the flame of fire.
Several parts of Edo State have been faced with very disturbing levels of insecurity for a long while now, and the dilemma has heightened in recent times.
In February, two residence of Okpekpe community in Etsako East Local Government Area, Batemue Philip and Christopher Bello, were brutally murdered by suspected herdsmen. Kidnappings and killings have become routine in Auchi and border communities with Kogi in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area.
In Edo Central and Edo South Senatorial district, the lamentable lapses in securing lives and properties from these same suspect is identical. Farmers no longer go farms because of these suspected killer herdsmen. Women are raped and murdered in their farms, commuters are attacked, kidnapped and sometimes killed. In fact, Senator Oshiomole, last month, during a session, lamented the state of insecurity in the state. In his words, “the entire state is under siege. By bandits, by terrorists and by herders. We have terrible pictures of people who have been murdered in cold blood – men and women. In fact, someone’s compound has been turned into a graveyard by terrorists and bandits…”
It is not enough to react in our usual knee-jerk style to the unfortunate self-help and jungle justice that happened in Uromi, we need a collective and effective reflection. We must look at the broader issues that spur the people into taking laws into their own hands. We must ask salient questions, away from politics and political correctness. We must be sincere with ourselves rather than gloss over the real issues as if in that pretense, the challenges will go away. We must acknowledge that there is a Clear and Present Danger.
First, why are the people resorting to self help? They are doing so because they are not safe and the system is not protecting them from dangers. People cannot continue to look askance while they are being kidnapped and killed daily by the same suspects. Has any of the killings and kidnappings in Edo State by suspected Fulani herdsmen attracted the kind of national condemnation the killings of the 16 hunters attracted so far by government officials, religious bodies and other busy-bodies?
It is past the appropriate time this open grazing is totally banned with all seriousness. Any herder that violates it is given very punitive punishment. We are in the 21st century, we are not barbarians or savages.
Again, it will be far-fetched to think enhancing our overwhelmed and under-staffed police will be an immediate solution. The Nigeria Police Force has less than four hundred thousand active members, more than half are guiding politicians and VIPs. The rest citizens are at the mercies of these dangerous killer criminals. However, the suggestion that more police officers are needed is not misplaced. There should be immediate and drastic recruitment to cover the usual shortfall of manpower in the police force.
No doubt, one of the most effective community policing is the vigilantes, and unfortunately, they were accomplices in this jungle justice that is at the heart of our discussion. I do not think all hope is lost in their abilities because of this single act. There should be an expansion of these local securities that have given far flung communities some sense of security. They should be infused into the legal state security network. There should be given regular trainings, they should be educated on law and orders, better equiped, their renumeration should be attractive, better armed, and should have better communication gadgets.
We must go back to the conversation on state police – an idea that took center stage last year but has been reduced and condemned to shelves of old files. The National Assembly must reignite the conversation again so that the gray areas can be fine-tuned. We must look at countries like the US that have been successful in state policing.
Lastly, the era of reaction to these murderous criminal acts must stop; there is need for proactive measures. These kidnappers and killer herdsmen have several camps spread across our forests, its time security agents took the war to their frontiers rather than creating hundreds of roadblocks along highways.
