Lynching of criminals in Nigeria; A heartbreaking account of victim who lost brother to robbery attack
The recent lynching to death of a suspected thief in Alaafia bus-stop, Orile, Lagos has sparked several reactions, ranging from sympathies to condemnations, especially when the victim was initially thought to be a 7-year-old boy.
NewsroomNG confirmed the earlier viral report as false, as the alleged thief was revealed to be in his teens.
Many voiced in agreement that irrespective of the age or offence, lynching a suspect shouldn’t be the measure of serving justice on criminals.
A Twitter user, Harrison Obi, however begged to differ, having directly been on the receiving end of some of the alleged thief’s gang’s atrocities. And in a bid to drive his point home, Harrison narrated the traumatic experience his family have had to endure, after his 20-year-old brother was stabbed to death in January for not giving up his phone to his attacker.
He began:
1. Let me share my own side of this lynching story. From where the alleged thief was burnt, to my house is a trekable.
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
2. It is a notorious bus-stop for phone thieves i.e Alafia, the bus-stop before Orile, if you’re coming from Mile 2.
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
3. I lost my blood brother to these thieves in January of this year. He was 20, & was coming back from dance rehearsal.
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
4. He was holding his friend’s Samsung Tab when the thieves approached him & without warning, stabbed him in the neck.
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
5. His friends didn’t know what happened cus he was at the back. After he was stabbed, he ran towards his friends…
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
6. And cried for them to help him, that he had been stabbed. Immediately after making that statement, he collapsed.
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
7. My bro. is huge in size, so it was difficult for his friends to lift him. Even when they did, nobody stopped for …
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
8. them or offered to take him to a hospital. A good Samaritan bikeman helped and took him to a near by quack hospital.
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
9. The hospital rejected him. It was a lost cause. So his friends abandoned his lifeless body on the road opposite the
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
10. hospital. One of them ran 2 my house to call me. I had just come back from d gym, i had only gym pants on, no shirt
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
11. I did an intense squat programme that day. Mind you, i never do squats in the gym. I flung my phone and ran out as
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
12. fast as my tired legs could carry me, half naked. I didn’t even know my mum was following me. I got to the hospital
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
13. and saw my brother’s lifeless body on the floor with dozens of people staring at him like he just landed on earth.
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
14. I fainted, but some folks revived me and put me on a bike with my bro’s body. They put my mum on another bike.
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
15. Some of our neigbours who had heard my mum screaming also followed us. It was difficult for the bike to balance cus
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
16. of my bro’s weight. So our neighbours carried him on their hands to another hospital, which also rejected him on
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
17. the spot. I heard a medical worker say, eleyi ti ku na, which translates to this one is dead na. I begged for them
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
18. to check him at least. They refused and told us to go the General hospital. We took off again inside a keke…
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
19. I was half-naked at the busstop begging bike men, keke & anything on wheels to help lift my brother. None answered
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
12. Long story cut short, my family is still recovering from the trauma of that night. Sometimes, my mum waits for us
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
13. to go to bed, before draining herself in her tears. It has been months, but go and see my mum now. She looks frail
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
14. and has been aging rapidly, thanks to over thinking. When i don’t pick my call, she goes into panic mode. She might
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
15. never recover. I sent messages to @YomiShogunle and @rrslagos767 and also to @aleeygiwa. @aleeygiwa called back &
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
16. we spoke for minutes. I complained about that busstop and that we reported to the near by Police station, but they
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
17. refused to do anything. @aleeygiwa promised to visit and check out the notorious spot himself. I’ve been waiting
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
18. since January. Now, read carefully. After the murder of my brother, i have heard that close to a dozen people have
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
19. lost their lives to the same phone thieves at Alafia busstop. I happen to know one. A young and newly married man
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
12. who had a shop close 2 my street. I have also met people who have escaped these murderers by a whisker. The thieves
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
21. in Alafia busstop don’t ask for your phone. They stab you and then take it from you. On Saturday, i was preparing
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
22. to head out for a soccer match when a friend called. He sounded excited, like he just won a lottery. ”Obi, he said
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
23. i just witnessed the lynching of a thief in the same busstop your brother was murdered.” My mum was close by. so
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
24. i told her what my pal just told me. This was what she said ” The spirit of Obinna(my brother) will not rest until
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
25. his killers are dead. I didn’t heed 2 calls to go to a shrine. I know my son can fight for himself, dead or alive”
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
Since the incident, Harrison revealed the trauma hasn’t worn off his mum, who still suffers panic attack. He said even as he is against lynching as an act of serving justice on a criminal, he would, in the situation of losing his brother, lead the charge to set the attacker ablaze.
26. See, it is easy to speak up against lynching when you’ve never been a victim of these fuckers. You don’t have
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
27. nightmares like my entire family does. You can speak up because you have never ever seen your dad cry like a baby
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
28. over the death of his son, or your mum continuously deteriorating as a result of over thinking. Praying day & night
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
29. that she doesn’t loose another child 2 these murderers. I was defending d thief, thinking it was truly a 7 year old
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
30. It just connected, when i saw the tweets from @YomiShogunle confirming it was the same thief that my friend called
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
31. about. If i was there, i would have personally bought d fuel used in burning him. The thieves had no plans to stop
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
32. Hopefully, when the community starts to take matters into their hands and show these retards that we mean business,
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
33. they might stop making families miserable. And oh, these guys once threw a man off that Alafia bridge for refusing
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
34. to hand over his phone. I am against lynching by the way. But this particular issue is very personal to me. Thanks
— HARRISON (@Harri_Obi) November 16, 2016
Having fully digested Harrison’s heartbreaking and very moving narrative, one can almost be tempted to make a case for the lynchers.
The act of lynching is however, still unjustifiable, and as the narrator’s tweets about not getting due response from respective authorities he contacted prove, we are only here because of a systematic failure that has been evident almost since Nigeria’s independence 56years ago.
The police and other law enforcers need to be held accountable for a seemingly nonchalant or dubious approach in discharging their duties, as they remain the only proper channel lives and properties can be safely protected.
This is indeed, a really sad situation that needs immediate resolution, if we want to avoid many more of these types of jungle justice.
At least, citizens are feeling a need to protect themselves if the law enforcers won’t do.
