On Thursday, March 27, a group of irate vigilante personnel descended on 16 persons travelling to the North and gruesomely murdered them in the Uromi area of Edo State. Videos of the barbaric act sparked outrage on the internet and dominated discussions throughout last week.

The spectre of jungle justice, whereby victims are put to death outside the ambit of the law, once again reared its ugly head. It brought back the distressing images of the “Aluu Four” lynching in Rivers State on October 5, 2012, the murder and burning of the body of Miss Deborah Yakubu by Islamic terrorists masquerading as students in Sokoto on May 12, 2022, and several other, mainly “blasphemy”-related murders.

The Uromi lynching is, however, in a world of its own because of the circumstances surrounding it. It left us with more questions than answers. The Edo State Government and law enforcement agencies have vowed to thoroughly investigate the tragedy to unravel its circumstances.

However, while that is yet to be concluded, we wonder how those who have commented on this matter – the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa; President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Archbishop Daniel Okoh; National Secretary of the Pentecostal Association of Nigeria, PFN, Bishop David Bakare; and Edo State Government, concluded that the victims were “hunters”?

The investigation should be able to properly pinpoint their identities and inform the public exactly why they were attacked. What are hunters from the far North supposed to be doing in Edo and Rivers states? Were they duly registered with the state governments to carry out their supposed trade as mandated by the law? What about the allegation that some of them were carrying military-grade assault firearms like AK-47?

We raise these pertinent questions against the background of prolonged complaints by the indigenes of that area over the menace of armed herdsmen who have been killing, raping, kidnapping for ransom and destroying the people’s farms to graze their animals. They are committing the same acts of terror all over the country, especially the Middle Belt and all 17 Southern states. Not only do the law enforcement agencies allow them to operate freely, the Police promptly release those of them arrested and brought for prosecution.

It is a great irony that the same law enforcement agencies which ignored the calls for protection by the hapless indigenes have now thrown a heavy security blanket on Uromi, harassing the common people and making some to flee their homes.

We condemn the killings in their entirety. Jungle justice has no place in any civilised society, let alone a democratic one. But we warn that unless the menace of violent and terrorist herdsmen is addressed, there may be worse episodes ahead.

We want justice both for the victims and besieged Uromi people. (Vanguard Editorial)