deborah Facebook user Henry Ikenna Ugwu posted a the
horrifying tale of what almost befell an innocent
woman.
True Story: How I Saved a Girl from Jungle
Justice in Onitsha
Last Saturday, I was traveling to Imo state. I
stopped over at Onitsha, picked a bike to Upper
Iweka to drop at another park where I would
board another bus. As I was paying the bike man,
I sighted a dark rough-looking man drag a girl by
her blouse. The force was so much that,
instantly, the girl’s blouse was torn.
The man went ahead to push her down and
started dragging her along the floor. Because I
had been rounded by passenger hustlers, I had to
pay for my ticket ASAP considering that the bus
was about leaving. But they didn’t have change.
They were running around for change when I
looked again and saw that the girl had been
stripped to her pants, battered and still being
dragged on the floor. By this time, it wasn’t the
man alone; a crowd of men (emphasis on MEN)
had joined him. They surrounded her. I could
hardly see her as the men were shouting, “O zuru
ori” (“She stole”). I was confused. I have never
witnessed jungle justice like this in my life.
The men who had gathered were all hefty,
rugged-looking, thick-voiced – you know the
regular Upper Iweka agberos. The girl kept
screaming yet her voice was completely
swallowed up by the men. People were filming
already with their phones, and screaming “Kpo ya
oku” (“Set her ablaze”).
Concerned, I asked a woman seated close to me
to go there and save the girl. Maybe they’d
respect her as an elder. She replied, “Look at this
one. It seems you’re new here. Leave them. She
stole. Let them kill her.” A man in the bus
chipped in: “That was how one girl entered my
aunty’s shade, said she was on her period and
she needed to wear pad, only for her to enter my
aunty’s shade and steal all her money. If no be
say I dey inside bus now I for join hand beat am.”
So, we would just fold our hands and watch
someone burn to death? But I couldn’t. I looked
at a guy in the front seat – he was about my age.
He smiled and winked at me (maybe it was his
own way of saying, “That was the right thing you
said”) and proceeded to tell another man
recording the incident to stop; he asked the man
if he would be recording if it was his sister there.
That statement alone impressed me. I was
relieved I wasn’t alone. I told him to come down
from the bus. When he did, I appealed to him to
help me save the girl. He nodded and asked how
we would do that.
I pointed at a pure water seller. “Buy four,” I said.
He did. “Now when I get into that crowd splash
the water.” He said Okay. No objection.
I pressed into the crowd and he splashed the
water. Reacting to that, the crowd dispersed a
little. I could see the girl and the man who had
accused her. I went straight to the man and held
him by his belt, asking him what the girl stole. At
first, my intention was to convince the crowd that
whatever she stole was not enough to kill her.
And because stealing is a sin, killing her is
another sin. Two wrongs don’t make a right. I
wanted to solicit for pardon. For her to be handed
over to the police. But I was shivering within me
yet I was able to scream over and over, “Wetin
she steal?!”.
All the man said was: “Somebody stole
something in main market and she is the person”.
The woman who was in the bus with me had
already appeared. She asked the man, “And you
didn’t catch the person in Main Market?” That
was how sense entered their heads. The crowd
started asking the girl what she stole. She made
it clear that she didn’t steal anything, that she
was buying something and felt a sharp push, and
the next thing she was there on the floor. That
she hasn’t been to Main Market. Suddenly, the
Accuser pushed through the crowd and started
running.
Apparently, he wasn’t alone in whatever he was
planning. A keke pulled up, he jumped in and
drove off.
Later, someone would say that this was a new
style of kidnapping. Apparently, they had wanted
to drag the girl into the keke and drive off with
her in the guise of taking her to the police
station. Obviously, they lost control.
The women started raining curses on the Accuser
as they helped the teary girl with clothes. Some
men took it upon themselves to find him and beat
him up. The bus conductor handed me my change
and asked me to get in the bus. On our way out I
took this pic below, a cluster of people
apologizing to the girl.
I am sharing this story because I want us all,
especially young people, to stand up against
jungle justice anywhere. Add your voice and help
rescue the situation instead of standing there,
recording with your phone or complaining about
it. You can start by sharing this so others can
find courage too. # SayNoToJungleJustice
PS: Women need to wake up in this country and
know
that they have as much power as the men.
Knowing how much women have suffered in the
hands of patriarchy in this country and around the
world, how can you see a crowd of men
surrounding a woman and you just wave it off
and continue with what you’re doing?
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