Amnesty International’s community enlightenment campaign to ‘End Mob Violence’ has received widespread support from youth, women, political and religious groups.
Representatives of the groups, besides civil societies and non-profit organisations, converged on the Millennium Park in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, southern Nigeria, for a street march around the city.
The people on the street campaign, which was coordinated by the Programme Manager of Amnesty International, Barbara Magaji, defied the down pour in Calabar to distribute fliers and engage pedestrians, commuters and a host of others on the dangers of jungle justice.
Magaji said, “we conducted a study for a period of two years, documenting situations that have happened across the country of mob violence covering eleven years from 2012 to 2023.
“We found out that over 555 people have died as a result of mob violence; meaning every year, 55 people on the average for from mob violence,” she stated.
The Amnesty International Programme Manager further explained that the research also listed the causes of mob violence to include accusations of witchcraft, blasphemy and stealing in public spaces.
She said, “our call to end mob violence is to first urge the Nigerian public not to take laws into their hand. They should report any suspect to the relevant justice actors for investigation and determination of the cases. The people have expressed a distrust in the police and legal system. So, the police and justice actors must build trust in the system.”
According to her, Amnesty International was partnering with community leaders and the clergy to stop mob violence, noting that members of communities perpetrate jungle justice and most times with the support of some prominent persons.
She promised that the campaign would be taken to other parts of Cross River State and other parts of Nigeria as well as continue to encourage relevant government agencies to build trust.
The Youth Factor
The Cross River State chairman of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Emmanuel Olayi, who led a cross section of young people to partake in the rally, totally condemned all forms of mob violence.
Olayi noted, “as a leader and individual I condemn in totality all forms of mob violence. I decided to ignore the rain and joined the street campaign because I believe in justice was jungle. NYCN has zero tolerance for mob violence and we need our youths to take a stand against mob violence.
“This council is also saying no to all forms of criminalities. The youths are in the centre of mob violence either as perpetrators or victims. We are vanguards of peace and security. A person, who has faulted can repent or be reformed and that is the reason certain institutions exist in the state,”he explained.
Speaking further, Olayi stated, “we have also realised that there is a huge trust gap between the people and the police including justice system. To achieve zero mob violence is to breach the trust gap between the people and the authorities.”
He noted that other factors such as political godfatherism, disrespect for rule of law and lack of exemplary leadership presented mob violence as alternative to justice, urging, “we must be deliberate and stop actions that would promote this kind of violence.”
The campaigners distributed fliers and carried banners with inscriptions such as ‘End Mob Violence’, ‘Hashtag – JusticeNotJungle’ and ‘Join The Movement. Speak Demand Justice’.
Hauwa Abu