The case of
the 7-year-old boy who was brutalised and burnt alive on the streets of Lagos
has outraged Nigerians home and abroad (I’d say those abroad in particular) due
to the horrific video and photos that were displayed on social media as a “7-year-old
child” was tied up visibly exhausted from the beatings, bleeding all over, with
a huge gash on his head, probably from repeated blows of machete he had been
dealt, wearing a tyre and moments later doused with petrol and set on fire.
This
incident has upset Nigerians all over the world, except for the people living
near Alafia bus stop area of Orile-Iganmu Lagos…why? Because not only did they
participate in the murder of a 7-year old, they filmed it and watched him burn
without flinching.
“Beasts” “Scumbags”
“Shame on you” “Murderers” Nigerian social media world was grief-stricken and
angry that in a country where politicians steal billions of dollars
collectively without reprisal, a vulnerable 7-year old who just wanted to eat was
burnt alive for stealing gaari and were even more outraged that adults stood by
and watched while a baby was murdered, except that was not a 7-year old child
and he didn’t steal gaari at all.
The young
man that was brutally killed by the lynch mob was in fact a member of an armed gang
that has terrorised and killed dozens of people in the Alafia bus stop area of
Orile-Iganmu and continued to do so until that faithful day of 16th
November 2016.
The Mob Mentality
Unfortunately,
like most Naija social media news report, accuracy is miles away from this
account. The “heartless and soulless” people of Alafia bus stop area of Orile
who watched this dastardly act without trying to rescue the boy knew something
the rest of us didn’t know. In fact, some of them were indeed victims of this violent
gang notorious for stabbing unsuspecting people in the neck and stealing phones
and mobile devices.
They use the
element of surprise in their attack, wherein they don’t ask you for your phone
or money, they simply blindside their victim with a sudden violent stab wound
to the neck and relieve the victim of his or her electronic device. They have
even been known to have thrown a victim over the bridge to his death whilst he
was fighting them off to keep his precious iPhone.
Therefore,
my dear friends, countryman and countrywoman, here are the facts…the victim of
the lynching was not a 7-year old child who stole gaari because he was
starving, rather he was a member of this violent gang who carried out an attack
but was overpowered due to being relatively young (probably 16 or 17) and was
apprehended by the mob while the other gang members escaped.
What
happened next was the wrath of the people of that area who had lived in fear
for years, who had complained to local government authority about the notorious
Alafia bus stop area, who had lost loved ones to violent attacks, unleash on
one of the gang member who unfortunately turned out to be this young man who
you could argue had his life ahead of him (or did he) cut shut in his prime.
For those of
us who jumped straight on social media to write moving memes, upload videos,
wrote passionate FB updates with angry emoticon, sad emoticon and tearful
emoticon…an increasing trend of “mob mentality” where we jump to say what
everyone else is saying because its popular.
I was
fascinated by the unanimous stand that Nigerians took in condemning the killing
of another human being, regardless of what he must have been accused of or
guilty of. I was like “wow…Nigerians still have empathy and a humane spirit”
and this public condemnation is proof…or is it? Cos no sooner had I joined a Facebook
thread on this topic did the true nature of Nigerians spring out from hiding.
A lot of
people who have condemned the people who set this boy ablaze or watched him
burn without feeling any remorse would do the same thing if people they
considered “deserving of death” were in such position. I raised the issue of Nigerian
drug peddlers, some of them in their early 20s and some teenagers per my
findings who get executed in Malaysia and Thailand and how Nigerians on this
same platform said they deserved to die and they got their comeuppance and
immediately the same person who just condemned the death of a young man echoed
that the execution of another human being is perfectly okay with him as the
person committed a crime.
Well, the
boy that was burnt committed a crime too, using that rationale, why is one
killing bad and the other killing okay? Is it because one was carried out by
the Malaysian Government while the other by citizens who have become frustrated
and fought back. I would argue that these days an average Nigerian is not
sympathetic, lacks empathy and is incredibly biased. Nigerians like to follow
the mob…on social media and on the streets as the poor kid found out. May God
have mercy on his young soul and the souls of those he had stabbed and killed
or being a part of.
And what about Witches?
How many
times have you heard Christians clamour and advocate for the death of their
enemies and how many times have we heard pastors and general overseers, bishops
et al propagate the death of witches with much enthusiasm and passion. Is it
not odd to see people who supposedly commune with God desire the death of other
people so bad? My point is there is a lot of hypocrisy in our community. A greater
number of those grieving for that boy’s death had already prayed for the death
of someone else, so my point is a lot of us are not different from the people
who filmed that video and didn’t intervene when that boy was being burnt.
We had cases
of children accused of witchcraft and doused with acid by pastors. We had women
suffering from dementia accused of witchcraft and burnt to death, so what is
this noise all about really? When most of us will participate, or approve of
similar thing in principle.
And what about the
gays?
It is this
same country where a homosexual man was brutally attacked, stripped naked and
murdered for being gay. Now note this, some of us condemned that act, but some
of you who have uploaded videos now condemning yesterday’s act said nothing
about the young man who was cut shut…why? Because your Christian belief condemn
his lifestyle and as such he probably “deserved” to die, hence you didn’t criticise
nor comment, therefore I conclude that these outpour of grief is not
necessarily a reflection or evidence that we are good people, even though it
should.
If you have
no problem with the brutal murder of a gay man, then what is your moral
justification for condemning the people who took vengeance on a person that
tried to kill them in the first place? I don’t understand that bit.
I condemn in
its entirety the lynch mob; I support whole heartedly the bravery of the locals
who rugby tackled and overpowered the gang and eventually detained the young
man. I only wish they handed him over to the police instead of killing him like
they did, making Africa look like a bunch of uncivilised barbarians who take
pleasure in burning old women, disabled children and disenfranchised youths.
But then again, imagine if they took him to the police station, what is the
guarantee that justice will be served, that he would be prosecuted or put in a
remand home since he’s probably under age and do we even have such facility.
Clearly the
people have no faith in the police or the local authority hence why they take
matters into their own hands, defend themselves and act as judge, jury and in
this case executioner.
A country
that cannot provide security for its citizen has failed in its primary
responsibility and the real culprit here is not the people who murdered the boy
but the Government who failed the boy and failed the people who murdered the
boy.
