Those who killed the Port-arcourt
Four must be brought to book
Nigerians (Ugonna Obuzor, Lloyd Michael, Chidiaka Biringa and Tekenna Erikanah)
– three of them University of Port-Harcourt undergraduates – were brutally
murdered by a mob from Aluu community at Omuokiri village, in Rivers State.
Painfully, the video clips of the gruesome murder are being circulated on the
internet and the traumatised parents of the victims have even watched it.
In a letter to the Senate, Mrs.
Chinwe Biringa, mother to one of the slain students, wrote: “We have been
subjected to several gory videos and pictures on the internet. This shows that
someone filmed the whole barbarism from beginning to the end. My son and his
friends were savagely beaten and burnt to death while villagers at Aluu
watched. All this has been caught on film! To waylay them and beat them with
planks until they died like chicken is the most savage thing one can witness in
Nigeria of 2012. Justice is the only thing that can assuage the pains and
emotional traumas consuming us and clear the name of our son so that he can
rest in peace. Again, and for emphasis, the film shows everything in clear view
and all the perpetrators must answer for their crimes. We want justice. Those
who murdered my son must face the wrath of the law.”
stripped naked, beaten up and later set ablaze by the mob for allegedly
stealing some smart phones and laptops. Coming on the heels of the murder of
more than 25 students in Mubi, Adamawa State, the latest incident in Port
Harcourt is another sad testimony to how barbarity, lawlessness and wanton
killings have gripped the land. While we commiserate with the families of the
killed students, we join in the call by Mrs Biringa that the perpetrators of
this most heinous crime must be found and punished according to the law.
community is counting on our country to lead the efforts at redressing the
several human rights abuses within the continent, it is indeed unfortunate that
we seem to be recording the worst form of human rights abuses within our
territory. Yet as we have repeatedly reiterated, in all civilised societies,
disagreements and accusation of crimes are settled through the judicial
process. That is essentially because recourse to violence, self-help, jungle
justice or any other form of extra-judicial killings in the settlement of
disputes or prosecution of crime is not only an invitation to mayhem or breach
of public peace, it is an evidence of a society in serious decline.
In the case of the three University of Port Harcourt students and their friend,
we must note that several critical stakeholders that could have intervened to
avert the tragedy failed them. In particular, the security agencies failed by
not responding immediately to the distress calls that were made by many
students since the perpetrators actually took their time in carrying out the
crimes. We are also yet to ascertain the positive role (if any) played by
elders in the Aluu community. At the end, both the society and the state should
carry the bloody stigma of the unfortunate incident, and we must all resolve
that such must never happen again in our midst.
that our law enforcement agents hardly offer the citizens any protection in the
face of death or any other threatened danger. And culprits are never punished
thus fuelling what has become a culture of impunity. That is why it is
important that those who killed the University of Port Harcourt undergraduates
and their friend be apprehended and subjected to the full wrath of the law.
