Mob justice is back...Persons, irrespective of age or sex, allegedly caught or accused of committing one form of offence or the other are instantly mobbed and lynched or set ablaze...the psyche of the Nigerian person seems to be in tatters. This is unbelievable and unjustifiable.

No matter the heinous nature of the crime committed or the level of anger and despondency in the land, the right to life of the human person remains sacrosanct and inviolable except in the few exceptions recognised and duly excused or excepted under section 33 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

The resurgence of jungle justice in our polity is shocking, alarming and outrightly condemnable.

 Some blood hungry folks and lawless patrons offer one funny excuse or the other for recourse to instant justice or jungle justice. But we ask pointedly, why are we too quick to offer defence to things that dehumanise our common humanity?

We vigorously contend that the people who lynch others physically and or even verbally lack basic attributes of human dignity which insist that humanity is one and all humans must be respected and human life must be treated with utmost inviolability.

Under our constitution and laws, no one is allowed the right to extra-judicial killings, meaning unlawful or unjustified killing of another...not even the law enforcement or security agencies.

Calcified jurisprudence teaches that dignity is the pecusor of human rights.

Human rights exist to protect human dignity. What we loosely allude to as human rights is an offshoot of human dignity.

Every man or woman was born with dignity...Dignity of the human person is so important that the dead has dignity and no human rights!

Incessant recourse to self- help remedy and mob justice is a practical manifestation of lack of dignity.

We opine that if the dignity quotient of the Nigerian is high, he or she will be prepared to be patient with others and obey the laws of the land by according them the rights guaranteed under our constitution.

Our extant constitution guarantees right to life, right to dignity, right to fair hearing and right to presumption of innocence which all combine to make jungle justice not to be part of our legal system.

An accused person remains innocent until found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.

No one man is authorised to take the laws into his hands and whimsically decide to take the life of others.

Put simply, that is the essence of due process and rule of law. Our constitution clearly prescribes and guarantees  rule of law. Rule of law is not rule of the mob!


The Holy Bible preaches that we should do unto others as we want them to do to us.

The big question then is-would you want to be lynched and set ablaze no matter the transgression? Would you not like to be given fair hearing?

Legally, mob justice is illegal and unjustified.

The touted failure of the police and other strands of our administration of criminal justice system offers no justification for lynching a suspected criminal or using tyres to burn him or her alive.

Resort to mob justice is conclusively babaric! Our criminal jurisprudence is so robust that it concedes to the private person the right of arrest of a felon.

The only caveat is that you must hand over the privately arrested offender to the police.

When next you see a suspect being lynched by a mob or being set ablaze by blood hungry villains,  remember that the right to dignity teaches respect for our common humanity and empathy.

It follows clearly that if you value your own life, you will not be quick to terminate the life of another and in bizarre circumstances.

Think about it and stop all forms of jungle justice or mob gangsterism!

Let rule of law prevail and let the right to life and dignity of the human person be immutable, sacrosanct and inviolable!

A new normal is possible!

Prof Obiaraeri N.O.
(c) November 2016