In his most popular thesis on the theory of
Social Contract, Leviathan; British free-thinker, Thomas Hobbes
described the state of nature as a “war of every man against every man”, and
one in which life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
In his trials at explaining the Social Contract,
the seventeenth century philosopher was of the opinion that mankind is
naturally wicked and egoistic. Thus, the crave for power and prominence which arguably
are tools of perpetual suppression and oppression on the vulnerable weak by the
domineering strong. He therefore recommended that men should not enjoy absolute
privilege of solely taking decisions without recourse to some measures of
restraints. He strongly advocated for state control, through an authoritative
sovereign, possibly a King. His beliefs were seen by many as anti-democracy and
have over the centuries managed to remain at the centre of discourse among
scholars in political science across societies the world over.
In as much as the globe has moved-on from the age
of Hobbes as evident in the propagation of representative governance in many
fragments of the universe, it is also equally germane to note that some
propositions of Hobbes’ theories are still haunting mankind, even in the 21st
century. In actual fact, men seem to have graduated in wickedness and cruelty
beyond any imaginable bounds in recent years as the enunciated legal rope
around man’s undue exercise of power appears completely loosened.
Where and what best suites the reincarnation of
Hobbesian era than Nigeria, having in mind, events which transpired in
different parts of the country over the past months. Perhaps, it would only be tantamount
to a testament of emphasis to posit that not all is well with the country, and
more importantly, her over 150 million population at this moment. For, the only
time in which the country’s 52 years statehood history recorded anything close
to what she is facing presently would probably be the dark days of the civil
war of 1967-70; though the only noticeable difference being the erudition with
which some Nigerians now perpetrate wickedness, with all ease, calmness, and
indeed, passion.
In the early hours of Tuesday October 2, 2012,
some agents of evil surfaced and struck in Mubi, a town in Adamawa state,
northeastern Nigeria, leaving behind them everlasting memories of unprecedented
carnage, unjustified deaths, and vicious extermination of innocent Nigerian
souls. The venue was a nearby community of the Federal Polytechnic located in
the town that had prominently featured in the news for all the wrong reasons of
late. In particular, Mubi has been tagged a volatile community due to incessant
eruption of violence between insurgent terrorists and government military outfit:
the Joint Task Force (JTF) which had led to several deaths. The months-long
curfew that the state government slammed on the town was only lifted some days
before these life-executioners arrived. But more worryingly, what left
Nigerians and the rest of the world awed is the commando-like style of the
attack, and the happenings that surrounded it.
Accounts from many eye-witnesses recalled that
the Student Union Government (SUG) election was held in the institution on
Sunday September 30, 2012; a contest that reportedly pitched two candidates
from the north and south regional divides of the country against each other. It
was learnt, the gunmen who appeared in military uniform stormed the students’
private hostels at Wuro-Fatuji, a suburb of Mubi, a day after the election and
lined-up scores of students, seen as supporters of a certain faction before
they were gruesomely executed; some with their throat slit-open with knife, and
others were axed to death in cold blood. When the dusts settled, not less than
30 bodies of young Nigerian students were deposited in the morgue. Even the
police spokesman in the state, Ibrahim Mohammed, who described the incident as
a “mystery”, said the force could not rule “out the fact that the killing was
carefully planned and executed.”
As one would ordinarily anticipate, utter
condemnations followed from prominent individuals and notable bodies –religious
and social –including the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), and the
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), while the school, which became a ghost town in
the immediate aftermath of the horrific event shut its gates, till only God
knows.
With the nation still riddling in the cacophonic
effects of the Mubi massacre, additional pathetic news filtered in and Nigeria
suddenly seemed a country in the eyes of a raging storm; this time around in
far-away Umuokiri-Aluu, a community in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state, in the
south-south region of the country. It was reported on Saturday October 6, 2012
that dwellers of the community captured four male undergraduate students of the
University of Port-Harcourt (UNIPORT) who were allegedly involved in robbery
earlier on Friday. The ‘suspected robbers’ were said to have been apprehended
in possession of a computer laptop and mobile phones belonging to another
student in the vicinity. The four: Biringa Chiadika Lordson, Ugonna Kelechi
Obuzor, Mike Lloyd Toku, and Tekena Erikena were all subjected to torturous
treatment as they were paraded naked round the community before being severely
beating and lynched to death by some of the villagers. But unfortunately, this
was only half-depiction of what indeed transpired when the orgy lasted.
A graphic video footage, filmed with a mobile
handset, soon emerged on the internet showing full-account of the suffering the
four young men endured from their fellow countrymen. The gory video, which can
only be watched by individuals of no meek-mind, showed how the alleged
‘thieves’ were mercilessly hammered with different heavy objects like stones
and tree planks while blood gushed-out of their massively bruised and mutilated
bodies. They were drenched with petrol and roped with car tyres before being
lit to die in inferno, all to the delight of the perpetrators and
gleeful-looking crowd, both male and female.
The ‘horror movie’ sparked wide outrage among
Nigerians and on the international scene as popular media dissect ‘Mubi
massacre’ and ‘Aluu-4’ mob justice simultaneously. Images of these two
incidents became synonymous with Nigeria, at least as far as the first week of
October was concerned. To further deepen the controversy, a counter-accusation
emerged in contrary to the reference of Aluu villagers. It was alleged the
students only went to the community to forcefully demand money owed one of them
by another student, whose laptop and mobile phone they later seized due to his
inability to pay; they were subsequently accompanied with chants of ‘robbers.’
The rest was history for them.
The sad story refused to go away, even as
national tabloids continued to feed the general public with latest updates on
the matter day-in day-out. The institution was temporarily closed down as students,
in protest, reportedly torched some buildings in the community in an apparent
vengeance mission.
At this juncture, it is only prudent to look
beyond media-hype and reportage of these disastrous episodes in examining some
knotty issues attached to them. Once again, the pro-activeness - or lack of it
- of the country’s security agencies, most primarily, the police was called
into question by the ‘twin-disasters’ of wholesome proportion. The police never
intervened in both attacks, notwithstanding such ordeals took considerable
period of time to execute. One would imaginarily expect heavy security presence
in a restive environment like Mubi; so, how come nobody tried to stop the
slaughtering of over 30 people when it lasted? Was a police station not
situated within walkable distance to Aluu for some unscrupulous elements to
have burnt fellow human beings to death, even in broad daylight? Or better
still, was there no hint or clue to the police that some individuals have taken
laws into their hands when the four were being humiliated before being killed
eventually?
Another question that begs for answer is the
mystery of the proliferation of military regalia, basically uniform viz-a-viz
sophisticated ammunitions in the custody of faceless persons. This, in
particular, is in direct reference to Mubi extermination. It was reported the
assassins appeared in military uniforms and used assorted arms which should not
be in the hands of ordinary civilians. The unguided spread of military
paraphernalia is a major disturbing trend in Nigeria. The arms have been
engaged to execute various nefarious acts in recent time and Nigerians
genuinely appear very perturbed, premised on their inability to decipher
criminals from crime fighters. Therefore, stakeholders must identify the roots
of the malignancy as soon as possible if this senseless serial killing of
Nigerians on mundane and irrelevant basis like regional cum ethno-religious
alignments would stop anytime soon.
For Aluu murderers, it has been argued in some
spheres that the slow process of the nation’s judiciary nay apparent distrust
in the police to effectively do justice to apprehended culprits might be the
reason for the ‘over-zealousness’ of the mob in the arbitrary and disgusting
execution of the four lynched UNIPORT undergraduates. Such a flimsy alibi - it
must be stated – has no place in a civilised society which Nigeria claims to
be. The extent of the so-called ‘mob-justice’ nullifies whatever pro-argument
anyone might want to lodge in explaining the stone-age-like atrocity.
To conclude, one can only expect the reported
arrest of some persons in connection with the two incidents yield timely
results. Everyone involved in these must be made to dance to the harsh rhythm
of the law accordingly. The reign of these felons must terminate now if the
optimism of any future guarantee of Nigeria as a cultured entity and not a
jungle of blood-sucking vampires would enjoy any iota of belief among the
populace.
Funmi Ajala studied International Relations at Lead City University. He is a prolific writer whose regular insights elucidate topics related to governance and politics.
