Day police sensitised achaba riders against jungle justice

The immediate reason that might have triggered the police’s campaign against jungle justice in Kano is the brutal killing of an innocent cab driver, Umaru Marau-marau, who was suspected to have kidnapped two children. He was killed when achaba riders raised a false alarm that he was a kidnapper. Less than a week before the […]

The immediate reason that might have triggered the police’s campaign against jungle justice in Kano is the brutal killing of an innocent cab driver, Umaru Marau-marau, who was suspected to have kidnapped two children. He was killed when achaba riders raised a false alarm that he was a kidnapper.

Less than a week before the lynching of Marau-Marau, an old woman was killed on the suspicion that she kidnapped a toddler. A group of ‘achaba’ riders raised the alarm and the lynch mob took action. It was soon established that the elderly woman was carrying her grandchild.

A few years ago at Dakata area of Kano metropolis, a teenage SSCE candidate was lynched on the suspicion that he was a car snatcher. According to reports, the teenager was sent on errand in a Honda Civic when he brushed a commercial motorcyclist along Ring Road. By the time the boy stopped to appease the motorcyclist, he found himself submerged in the midst of achaba riders. The boy began pleading for restraint but the achaba riders turned deaf ears to his pleas and started beating him.

Reports said the boy managed to run away and zoomed off in his car. At that time, tens of achaba riders started to chase him. “Car snatcher… Car snatcher…,” they yelled as they chased him down to Warshu Hospital Road.

According to reports, the boy fell into a drainage at Dakata bus Stop when he speedily veered off to avoid hitting a group of bystanders. As he alighted from the car to run from the mob, they continued shouting “car snatcher” until he was caught. The mob then grabbed shovels and diggers from a tipper and killed him. The butchered body of the boy was also not spared as it was set ablaze. It was soon discovered that the boy actually was not a car snatcher.

Residents of Kano always witness one form of jungle justice or another perpetrated by achaba riders. While a few ones were reported in the media, others remained unknown to people.  

Sequel to these cases, Kano Police Command flagged off a point-to-point sensitisation campaign against jungle justice. The command observed that since the mob attacks were usually carried out by commercial motorcyclists, the campaign should be targeted at them.

Addressing groups of commercial motorcyclists at Kasuwar Takari, Yankaba Market, Badawa Bus Stop and Hotoro Tsamiyar Boka of Kano metropolis, Public Relations Officer of the Command, SP Baba Mohammed Azare, said they began the point-to-point campaign in order to sensitise the motorcyclists on the perils of taking the law into their hands.

The PPRO said the campaign was ongoing and has no time frame until the commercial motorcyclists are fully sensitised against the menace.

According to Azare, they found it imperative to meet the motorcyclists so that the rate of jungle justice in the state can be reduced. “The commissioner is worried about such cases of jungle justice in Kano State. So we reach to the point of your business so that the rate will reduce,” said the police officer.

SP Azare noted that the command resorted to the point-to-point campaign because of the nomadic nature of their business. “We realise that you have no time to listen to radio, nor watch the TV, nor read the newspapers because you don’t earn a living in a sedentary way,” said the spokesman.

While calling on the motorcyclists to be law abiding and report whatever crime to the police, he said whoever the command found at a crime scene would be an accomplice and would be made to face the wrath of the law.

Cautioning people to stay away from crime scenes, he said the suspected killers of Umar Marau- marau have already been charged to court. Azare said the police and good Samaritans captured crime scenes on camera, saying the new method of taking the photographs or videos of a lynch mob had helped the command greatly in arresting criminals.

He then told the ‘achaba’ operators that the command initially wanted to propose a total ban on commercial motorcycle services in the state, but later reversed the decision on the premise of leaving them to earn a living.

SP Azare therefore revealed that the Kano State Police Command would not tolerate any form of gangsterism in the state, adding that the police are on alert, ever-ready to respond to distress calls from the public.

Responding, the motorcyclists agreed not to take the law into their hands, saying they would be law-abiding citizens.

Speaking with our correspondent recently, the Chairman of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), Muhammad Sani Hassan said the bona fide members of the union are law abiding citizens. “Of course, we don’t support jungle justice, and we believe there are some miscreants in our midst who portray bad image of our job. We have many unregistered members. But I believe our registered members are law-abiding citizens,” he said.

He also said that the motorcyclists are not above the law as many people assert, saying “nobody is above the law unless the law allows the person.”