NIGERIA: OF CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
'HDWK KDV EHFRPH VR FKHDS LQ 1LJHULD Incredibly, life manages to be even cheaper. In many parts of the country, lives are being snuffed out of people with alarming regularity.
On 12th March, the red mist descended on popular Wuse Market in Abuja, when a hastily convened mobile court which tries environmental offenders found a teenage hawker liable for a couple of environmental offence. He was duly convicted and while EHLQJ WDNHQ DZD\ E\ PHQ RI WKH 1LJHULD &RUUHFWLRQDO 6HUYLFH WKH IDPLOLDU 1LJHULDQ suspicion and fear of the agents of state set in, and he scampered out of the vehicle and WRRN WR KLV KHHOV 7KH SULVRQ ZDUGHQV EULHÁ\ gave a chase before fatally shooting him.
7KH EXOOHW ÀUHG E\ WKH FRUUHFWLRQDO VHUYLFHV RIÀFLDO PRUH WKDQ VQXIIHG WKH life out of the hapless teenage hawker for whom life was already tough. It also set off
D ÀUHVWRUP LQ WKH PDUNHW GXULQJ ZKLFK QR less than 10 shops and eight cars were burnt E\ DQJU\ \RXWKV 2YHU 1 ELOOLRQ ZDV ORVW as the market was temporarily shut down.
The killing machine also made a stop in 7DUDED 6WDWH ZKHWWLQJ LWV DSSHWLWH RQ WKH stone of festering ethnic crisis in a state where different ethnic groups are locked in a panicked competition which precludes peaceful co-existence. Also on 12th March, a bus carrying about 15 passengers from Zaki %LDP WR 0DLKXOD LQ 'RQJD /RFDO *RYHUQPHQW $UHD RI 7DUDED 6WDWH ZDV DPEXVKHG E\ criminals. While the driver managed to escape, the bodies of about nine of his passengers were later recovered. The abduction and consequent killing of the passengers have been chalked down to reprisals for previous clashes between Ichen and Tiv ethnic groups in the state.
*UDGXDOO\ 1LJHULD LV EHFRPLQJ DQ RSHQ market of bodies and body parts, a market marked by the conspiracy of criminals in the country, the complicity of those who aid them and the complacency of law enforcement. 7KH\ DEGXFW DQG NLOO DV LI 1LJHULD KDV stopped being a country where human life is sacred. When people are indiscriminately or systemically killed and nothing is done.
,Q 1LJHULD WKRVH ZKR NLOO DQG WKRVH ZKR DLG WKHP PDNH XS 1LJHULD·V KLGGHQ RIIHQGHUV together with those who condone them.
The teenage hawker in Wuse Market must have come to Abuja from his village OXUHG E\ WKH VLUHQV RI $EXMD·V IDEOHG EXW fatal green pastures. Having learnt the hard ZD\ WKDW WKH URDGV LQ 1LJHULD·V FDSLWDO FLW\ are not paved with gold, he must have taken to hawking to avoid returning to his YLOODJH ZKLFK PD\ EH XQGHU WKH LURQ ÀVW RI terrorists. This was until the mobile court came and pronounced judgment on him, a judgment that was swiftly executed in a country where the wheels of justice grind scandalously slowly.
7KH ODZ NLOOV ,Q 1LJHULD VRPHWLPHV OLWHUDOO\ %XW XQWLO LW GRHV DOO RWKHU DFWV RI killing are unconstitutional, illegal, and unforgivable.
Death does not discriminate. The experience of the state has shown that many of those who remorselessly and indiscriminately dispense death are themselves afraid of death.
7R SURWHFW LWV PRQRSRO\ RI GHDWK 1LJHULD must prey on the fears of those who dish death but not under the hand of the state. %ULQJLQJ WKHP QRVH WR QRVH ZLWK WKDW ZKLFK they fear most, touching it but not exactly succumbing to it in a way that only the law can, may make them rethink their crimes.