Lessons from Aluu

Many are blaming an ineffective law-enforcement system (and by extension, the government) for the brutal murder of the four students of the University of Port Harcourt by irate Aluu residents. Does the lack of confidence in our flawed judicial system justify the kind of “jungle justice” meted out to these boys?

The widely reported brutal murder of those boys, if anything, brings to the fore, deep-lying brutality and viciousness in our social vein.

I have a personal experience of Aluu from a short stay sometime in 2007. The area is known for incessant cases of robbery, so I believe the boys were just unlucky scapegoats on which the residents vented past grievances. But then, the vigilante group and whoever else subjected the boys to such a macabre death do not have any constitutional right to take laws into their hands to the extent of taking the boys’ lives. This is first degree murder!

Today the boys are dead and gone, but their blood, relatives and friends cry for justice. Unfortunately, it is almost certain that most of the perpetrators of this hideous act would have absconded from Aluu as soon as the matter grew out of hand. For a prolonged incident that enjoyed such coverage however, it shouldn’t be too difficult a task to track down the culprits and bring them to face the full wrath of the law. The Nigerian police and other law enforcement bodies should prove their efficiency here.

Students of the University must be discouraged from any form of reprisal as this will instigate a feud that will not only result in more casualties, but will go on to threaten their coexistence with indigenes of the community.

After all, no matter what is done now, these boys – guilty or innocent – will not come back to life.

This painful should be viewed as a deterrent and a constant reminder of our collective responsibility to ourselves, our children and our country; that of eradicating violence from society.