A Lagos lawyer, Kingsley Ughe has given the real account of the viral photos of the man lynched in Lagos. Read after the cut...
"Barrister Kingsley Ughe Wrote:
A THIEF AND A FRENZIED MOB BAYING FOR BLOOD
The true accounts of the young man lynched and summarily burnt to death
at Orile Iganmu last Saturday speak of the uncertainty and brevity of
human life in Nigeria. It was Saturday, the 11th day of November 2016.
The venue of this macabre killing orgy was at Augustine Onwualu Street,
Orile Iganmu, Lagos.
A woman, (name withheld) was walking along the ever busy road of
Augustine Onwualu street, Orile Iganmu. She had an Infinix Hotnote 2
handset with which she was making telephone calls in high pitched voice,
frantically gesticulating in the process. Close by, on the same street
were a gang of 4 notorious thieves, well known in the area for their
dare devilry and viciousness.
They were there, waiting, prowling and surveying the entire scenery for a
vulnerable victim to rob and dispossessed of their valuables as they
often do in the past. And successfully too.
The woman approached. Still talking on the phone and gesticulating with
her free arm. She was immediately spotted by the very perceptive eyes of
this criminal gang. A brief conference amongst them, she was adjudged a
soft target. There was no need for further plans or careful
surveillance.
After all they had done this successfully in the past. More so, their
sheer ferocity makes them a sort of feared mobster in the local
vicinity. But it turned out to be a miscalculation. And costly one at
that!
They approached and circled the woman who was oblivious of her
surrounding and the imminent attack on her person. The robbery attack
was swift and very decisive. She was held from behind by two members of
the gang. One of them deftly pruned her hand bag off her shoulder and
the same time attempted to retrieved the telephone with which she was
making calls from her other arm. The last of the gang stood guard,
providing cover for the others.
They had during their planning stage misjudged the desperation of a
Nigerian woman about to be dispossessed. The victim reacted swiftly. She
let the hand free and held on tenaciously to her phone.
A struggle ensued. The victim plaintively cried out for help. A motley
crowd gathered. The other members of the gang, appropriately appraising
the situation fled the scene. The fourth member was not so lucky. He
continued to engage in an internecine struggle with victim for the
phone.
In desperation, he brought out a dagger, and cold bloodedly stabbed the
woman repeatedly in the chest, stomach and shoulder. There is a proverb,
when a strong animal flirts too much with the trap, he makes his meat
available for children to share with teeth.
The gathered crowd became
enraged and promptly apprehended the abandoned thief. He was beaten to
stupor, Tied up and set ablaze while the maddening crowd continued to
bay for his blood.
Joint Action Aid was alerted on Monday when video clips of the dastardly
murder went viral on social media. We reported the yet another resort
to "jungle justice" to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos state. The
video clips were carefully analyzed and some arrest made. The six people
arrested through our efforts denied criminal culpability and brought
fast talking lawyers.
More frustrating, the charred remains of the alleged thief had been
removed. The area council and Orile Iganmu police claimed ignorance of
the whereabouts of the corpse. Thus we have a dead zone situation. No
dead body, no witnesses and then, most understandably, an unwilling
complainant still battling for survival from the grievous multiple
stabbing at the hospital.
We returned back to the office, again defeated. Frustrated. And
defeated.The rule of law is vanquished again. The rule of the jungle
continues to win triumphantly.
Kingsley Ughe ,a legal practitioner and General Counsel of the Joint Action Aids, can be reached via k.ughe@aol.com"
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