Lagos: In Nigeria, jungle justice, a form of extrajudicial punishment carried out by mobs or communities who take the law into their own hands, is quite prevalent. Amnesty International reports at least 555 documented jungle justice incidents between 2012 and 2023 in Nigeria and describes the violence as escalating in brutality and scope.
According to Global Voices, it typically involves public shaming, beatings, torture, or even killings – often based on suspicion of a crime, without evidence, arrest, or trial. In 2022, a teenager accused of stealing a motorcycle was burnt to death by a mob in Edo state, with videos of the mob action circulated on social media. The next day, a 22-year-old female Christian student was stoned to death by a mob of Muslim students after being accused of blasphemy against Islam. In 2024, suspected phone thieves in Jos, Plateau State, were pursued, captured, and set ablaze by an angry mob. These incidents reveal a troubling pattern of impunity and slow or absent justice, as most mob members are rarely identified or prosecuted.
While speaking in an X Space titled Jungle Justice and Human Rights: Causes and Consequences in Nigeria, Olalekan I. Oladapo, a lawyer, said that the Constitution provides for a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and the burden of proof lies on the prosecution, not the defendant. He emphasized that the problem does not largely lie in the judiciary but in the system, as the criminal justice system takes a long time, and people want justice immediately.
Nigeria’s Assistant Inspector General of Police, Special Protection Unit, Olatunji Dusi, linked the persistence of jungle justice to crowd psychology, noting how people behave differently in large groups due to anonymity and collective decision-making.
Oladapo identified the causes of jungle justice as poverty and ignorance, urging the government to secure the welfare of the people and empower law enforcement agencies. Legal practitioner Fukky Danladi Mashat suggested that the menace can be curbed with faster and more efficient prosecution of criminal cases, grassroots education, and strengthening accountability within law enforcement and the judiciary.
Nigerian media professional, Sola Jaiyesimi, highlighted the role of the media in naming and shaming perpetrators of mob violence, citing the Aluu Four lynching case as an example where the judiciary took action.
Amnesty International recommended that Nigeria’s police force, which is grossly inadequate, should be strengthened, and called for the enactment of anti-mob violence laws and effective protection against violence in the name of religion. These measures aim to control and moderate human behavior for peaceful and orderly coexistence.