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The police force is an executive arm of government saddled with the responsibility of maintaining the existing Law and order as well as protecting the lives and properties of the citizens. The Nigerian police force was established with the intention of achieving these set objectives.
What later came to be known as the Nigerian police was initially a colonial instrument established to ward-off Nigerian colonies yearning for freedom from colonial subjugation with intense training as prerequisite to becoming a member. This history played a salient role in shaping the mentality of Nigerian police till date.
Over the years, the Nigerian police brutality has deteriorated from bad to worse,ranging from harassing and meting unjust treatments to mere suspects in a desperate bid to extract confessions, to wrongful accusations and imprisonment of citizens just to extort money. These harsh and brutal treatment doled out on citizens without giving them a fair trial in court, atimes result in the death of innocent citizens. This has also left the prison crowded with a good number of innocent citizens rotten away.
Furthermore, Nigerian Police Force knows no discrepancies between being a suspect and being guilty as both are treated equally. While suspects in the developed nations of the world are allowed to move freely,suspects in Nigeria are kept behind bars. In line with the foregoing, the Nigerian police nature of rendering unequal and unfair treatment contradicts her motto(police is your friend) as most of the Nigerian police have become corrupt thereby befriending money instead of humanity and sacrificing their loyalty on the altar of wealth acquisition. This deadly trend in Nigeria formed a threshold for thieves and looters to go after bigger targets as the Nigerian police regard a person who is guilty of stealing peanuts as thief,and honor the ones who made away with millions of dollars as chiefs.
Nigeria is one of the countries “blessed” with a good number of past and present looters , and not much have been done to put them behind bars as they are indirectly considered to be above the law.
More so, the cases of kidnappers and other hardened criminals, buying their ways out of Nigerian prisons are pervasive.
Consequently, the lost confidence in the Nigerian police in juxtaposition with the endemic corruption in the judicial system which has trampled on the process of justice to its very feet has led to the widespread of jungle justice in Nigeria.
The rising tide of ‘jungle justice’ in Nigeria is gradually sweeping away the influences of the police force and court of law over criminal cases. Jungle justice can be described as the swift and brutal killing of someone who is considered guilty of a crime. This action is always carried out by a lynch mob and it expresses disregard for the constitution and the right to fair trial in the court of law. This societal trend, ‘Jungle Justice’ , sprang from the people’s lost hope and confidence in police force and judicial process.
Over the years, people of diverse areas of the country have witnessed no greater corruption than the one endemic in the police force. There have been many cases where those who are found guilty of a crime are illegally released after the police have received bribes from them: thereby perverting the course of justice.
Also, in the court of law, judgements are most times passed under the influence of bribery which renders the law subservient to the rich.
All these, on aggregate, have largely contributed to the growing acceptance of jungle justice by the people as a means of dealing with culprits.
However, jungle justice which is now seemingly a revered norm to people is an evil act which must be eradicated as it has done more harm than Good in the society.
Jungle justice, by nature, is swift as it crushes its victims without the leisure of probing them.
Many innocent people had lost their lives unjustly as a result of jungle justice. This is because it does not ensure fair trial and it is carried out by wicked and blood-thirsty human beings.
In addition, Jungle justice does not ensure that the punishment doled out on people fit their crimes. In jungle justice, the punishment is always ‘death’ irrespective of the offence committed.
Conclusively, there is a need to re-educate the Nigerian police on their role as well as making available provisions that will curb corruption amongst the Nigerian police. Citizens should also be sensitised on the viciousness of Jungle justice and measures should be put in place to curtail jungle justice in Nigeria.
– Naimah Omeiza, a political scientist and public analyst, writes from Kogi State.
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