"Civil" Nigerian mob refuses to lynch armed robber, hands him over to police

There are places in Nigeria where people say all manner of things to justify jungle justice. The gory killing of four young men in Aluu will never be forgotten.

Lynching can happen anywhere in the North, East, South-West or South-South part of Nigeria.

But something is changing. Residents of Calabar in the south-southern state of Cross Rivers actually apprehended an alleged armed robbery suspect and decided to hand him over to the police.

But the 22-year-old suspect was not passed to the police in one piece.

“The crowd handed over a 22yrs-old injured male robbery suspect to us,” the police said in a statement.

“On September 5, 2015 at about 9:30pm, upon a distress call Police patrol team arrived at a scene of robbery.

“It was at a restaurant along Asari Iso Layout, Calabar, where a crowd handed over a 22yrs-old injured male robbery suspect to the Police, one locally-made pistol with six live cartridges recovered from the suspect was also given to Police.

“The robbery victims stated that a three-man robbery gang arrived their restaurant on a motorcycle at about 9:00pm of same date that the hoodlums brought out a gun and demanded for money.

“The victims further stated that the armed gang members was tackled. The victims also raised an alarm which made other two gang members to flee.”

The suspect is in custody as investigation into the robbery continues, the police said.