It was a Thursday afternoon, the sun Was extremely hot. You know that point when you feel you could even be roasted by it. It was 3pm and i was returning from work. I stood at the bus-stop close to the town's main market with several other people, waiting for a bus to come.
As i stood there, I noticed a young man, well dressed. By looking at him, I could guess he should be about 20 - 25 years of age. He wore a blue shirt and a black trouser, which he neatly tucked in along with his black belt and black shoe to match.
As we stood there waiting with the crowd, I suddenly heard a loud shout, " thief! thief o". The first response came with commotion as everyone scampered for safety first and then the valiant ones began to search for the ascribed thief.
The shout became persistent and i turned to see a woman shouting and pointing to the well-dressed young man I had been admiring, saying, "catch am o, he steal my money, he wan run enter motor go".
"What!!! ... how can that be?!... with all this baff-up?" These questions ran through my mind as the crowd began to lynch the young man. He looked confused and kept asking "what did I do, what did I do? But his questions were answered with heavy slaps on his face and back. Hoodlums got sticks of different sizes and began to hit him with it.
I stood in tears as i watched the beating continue with each strike more severe than the previous. At that moment, most people began to comment how several stuffs have been missing from their market stalls and as expected, they put the blame on him, saying that finally, they had caught the thief behind the thefts.
The young man was beaten so badly that he laid on the ground, his face was covered with blood and his attractive outfit ruined with dust and blood that came out from the beatings he was receiving.
"How much he steal from you, madam?" They asked the accuser. "3000 naira" she replied. They quickly searched his pocket and found 3000 naira and some other 100 naira and 50 naira change. "I said it!" The woman exclaimed. Everyone, including me, knew this case could no longer be defended. The young man pleaded for an opportunity to explain himself but at this point, the mob has gotten so angry cos they found the exact amount with him. They hit him harder with the stick as if they had a death wish for him.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, they started contributing money to get fuel and tyre. "Make we burn am here, if not, he go steal again". At this point, the young man could no longer speak, as his whole body lay bare by the roadside covered with blood.
They brought the fuel and the tyre was placed on him. There they stroke a match and the young man, who once stood by me looking elegantly dressed, let out a scream of pain and the fire engulfed him. He died a slow and painful death.
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As the crowd became quiet, watching how the flames turned to ashes, a little voice started calling from a distance, "mama, mama eh!" The woman who stood as the accuser turned and saw her daughter running towards her. When she got there, she said loudly," papa said I should give you this 3000 naira. He took it from your bag this afternoon". Ghen ghen! Everyone heard it. Someone shouted immediately," Ah! So no be this boy thief your money?" Too late, the young man, who we found out was called Peter, had been burnt to ashes.
That evening around 6pm, Peter's mum called his elder brother, Steve, asking him if Peter came to his shop that day, after expecting him for a while. His brother replied that he did and infact he gave him 3000 naira to give to his mother.
This is not a real life story, it's just fiction. But jungle justice is real in Nigeria. Don't be a part of it!
Please feel free to resteem this... i would love to see your comments!
WOW... this got my heart going.... very moving... I am also happy it is not true... but disturbed that this sort of justice is being served in many ways in society these days.
You can help to resteem this... its worth the read, right?😚
Its a fiction but nevertheless it happens exactly as this story is told.
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Hi Cami!
Did you write this? I see you've given credit for the photo. It's a very sad story and well written. If you did write it, Congratulations!
(I am very happy that it's not true.)
Hahaha... i guess thats the effect!
The reading gets you and you think it's kind of true, specially when you are from Venezuela, country where people were burned because they deffended a thought in last year, but it is not real... you have a good way to write
Thanks @conucourbano... i never knew it happens at venezuela too!
Oh yeah It happened. It's awfull, aproximatelly 35 people died burned
My goodness, real life story or not it's barbaric.
Some people just love to take laws into their hands...😥
Yes I know but it is wrong.
Sad story to say the least. So many people and so many different stories behind their lives. A life is worth more than money or any worldly possession. Every life!
I tell you!
Those pictures look real! Perhaps from a real instances?
Yes.. the pictures are real
You scared the hell out of me, thank God the story is not real.
Thats the idea..
such a nightmare that sounds like a medieval goddamned dream
This is a very sad story how can government let the people to be taken a bad action like this this is not justice but murderer. And i believe of what youve said because this is not the first time it happens in my country.
I hope I never witness such. It already broke my heart reading this post. Thats just a very painful death, no item in the world is worth that treatment.
So true!
This was a scary yet moving story. Thank you so much for sharing it! I hope into the future people, like the bystander, will stand up and question. Always question, for justice. Right?
Yea... but sometimes, you may not be heard. But you can do a favour by quickly calling the law enforcement agencies.
I don't support jungle Justice in totality,but sometimes i get more confused if it is needed or not in some scenarios.
So many times when a notorious criminal is taken to the police, you see him coming back after 7 days. The said person will be boasting how they couldn't do him anything. Thus, inflicting more pains to people....
People turn to Jungle Justice in Nigeriabecause of lack of trust in the government(police force). One notable/notorious kidnapper and killer in my area was given a share of this, and the community has been in peace since then. Jungle Justice is bad BUT the government should give the people the reason to trust them by doing the right thing with criminals handed over to them...
Good post!!!!!
You have spoken correctly!... all this stems from the fact that the government is corrupt enough to let criminals go free.
It's not fairness or justice to myself to skip without upvoting commenting and resteeming this post.
This writeup is base on perspective, keep it up.
Thanks dear!
This was really touching. I know how rampant "jungle justice" was back in the days, but thank God that it's not as frequent as it used to be, but anyways, we still need to spread the word. Nice post.
Thanks for the feedback.
So sad 😢 .Reading this story melted my heart.World is so unfair.
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