Kelvin Obambon|27 June 2017
The rate at which jungle justice is being visited on petty criminals in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, in recent time, is becoming worrisome. Just within a space of three days, that is, 18th, 20th and 22nd June, 2017, no fewer than four lives were brought to an abrupt end through mob actions at Edim Otop, Atimbo, Akai Effa and other locations within Calabar and environs. While these are few reported cases, many acts of lynching are perpetrated on regular basis.
A trend such as this is a pathetic retrogression to bestiality and a sad reminder of how the Cross River society has undergone series of moral degeneration over the years. It has moved from a society where sanctity was highly accorded to human life to that in which taking human life in the most gruesome and barbaric manner is a pleasant spectacle to behold, reminiscent of the gladiator era.
Jungle justice is not an approach toward crime eradication. If it were, some societies would have been better off without laws. Jungle justice can only leave a society waste away on the vengeful wrath of hardened and merciless criminals.
A civilized and sophisticated society is one which sits triumphantly on the standard and strength of its laws. And if we are to be counted among the civilized world, then our voices must lost in the supreme voice of the law. Thus, if the law must serve its essence of being an instrument of social engineering, then it must be allowed to steer its course. Jungle justice has no place in a lawful society, and it is in direct confrontation with the laws of the land and technically renders them redundant and inapplicable.
To get back our society once again on the path of sanity, government must come up with measures to check the menace of jungle justice. Appropriate punishment should be meted out to perpetrators as this will deter others from engaging in such acts. Law enforcement agencies should be alive.
Kelvin Obambon
Is a Social Commentator
