When lynching becomes a way of life

If the claim by the police that innocent madmen or destitutes on the streets were being lynched and set ablaze by mobs, is anything to go by, then the development has further compounded the woes of these vulnerable people, who wander the streets as a result of their mental illness.Destitution is one of the ills […]

If the claim by the police that innocent madmen or destitutes on the streets were being lynched and set ablaze by mobs, is anything to go by, then the development has further compounded the woes of these vulnerable people, who wander the streets as a result of their mental illness.
Destitution is one of the ills that has plagued the Nigerian society. It is one of the indisputable indices of Nigeria’s description as a poor country with extreme poverty rates. The World Bank in a 2013 report said out of the  170 million population of Nigeria, 100 million live in destitution.
According to the report, the number of Nigerians living in destitution makes up 8.33 per cent of the total number of people living in destitution all over the world.
“One billion two hundred thousand people live in destitution, out of which 100 million are Nigerians,” according to the report.
Though the federal government controverted the report, analysts say it could not be farther from truth in a society where the  break down of family units has exacerbated the problem of destitution, with many children and adults wandering and loitering around with no known relation or family.
However, sociologists have raised alarm over the rising danger these destitutes and mentally deranged individuals are exposed to, as a result of the recent high incidents of lynching orchestrated by the rampant cases of kidnapping. Though destitution is considered a social malaise, people have capitalized on the illness to commit crimes  by abducting children and feigning madness. This was the case in recent times when “kidnappers” reportedly disguised as madmen or destitutes to commit crimes. This, according to observers, has made it difficult to identify real madmen or destitutes, as every destitute on the street is virtually mistaken for  a kidnapper.
Daily Trust reports that such instances have been witnessed in Ilorin, the state capital and other parts of the country. Recently, one who was thought to be a madman was caught with blackberry phones in Lagos. This is just one instance out of a hundred examples, when kidnappers feign madness to commit atrocities.
Last year in Ilorin, at least three suspected kidnappers were roasted alive on mere suspicion, according to the police. The development then sparked a clampdown on all destitutes in the state, as a task force set up by the Ministry of Social Development, Culture and Tourism, began to pick up all destitutes and mentally deranged individuals on the streets, in an effort to rid the streets of beggars and physically challenged individuals, with a view to rehabilitating them and embracing them as part of the society.

However, despite the clampdown on destitutes last year, there are still few of them wandering the streets of Ilorin and its environs, while the incidents of lynching have resurfaced in recent times. In April alone, at least three cases of lynching were recorded in various parts of the state capital. The victims were said to have abducted children in the metropolis, prompting mobs to descend on them. These incidents happened at Oyun Bridge, Emir’s road, Adeta, and Ganmo.
Residents who witnessed the scenes of the mob attack alleged that the victims were involved in recent cases of kidnapping in the areas. The rampant problem of lynching therefore inspired the police commissioner, Mr. Ambrose Aisabo to the read riot act to members of the public, warning them to desist from dispensing jungle justice on  suspects. The police boss equally ordered his officers and men to open fire on mobs trying to lynch a suspect, noting that the police is justified to use weapons when the life of another person is being threatened.
Giving accounts of lynching incidents at a press conference last month, the police boss disclosed that 13 suspects were recently arrested for mob actions.

He said, “13 suspects were picked up when they set an insane person ablaze. This also happened same day around 4:30pm at ‘D Division’ of the state police in the metropolis.
“The hoodlums lynched a young man at Adeta Roundabout. They also lynched one Saka Shehu, suspected to be an insane person. In the course of investigation, the thirteen suspects were picked up, and they have made confessional statements.
“The third incident was at Ganmo,on the outskirts  of the metropolis. It happened on the 24th of this month (April).
“In the evening a suspect by name Olayiwola Dauda was arrested. He, alongside others now at large, was about to lynch a victim named Ademola Olanrewaju. The victim was immediately rescued by police men who were on patrol.”
If the claim by the police that insane persons were among those lynched for allegedly kidnapping children within the vicinity, is anything to go by, then observers say the lives of mentally deranged people around are under threat.

As noted by stakeholders and observers, the cruelty in the society has made people living in destitution and the mentally deranged people, vulnerable to attacks. This, many believe, makes it imperative to institutionalize an effective and efficient rehabilitation programme to protect destitutes from the hands of cruel elements in the society, who might want to capitalize on the malaise to commit crimes. This could be done by getting rid of the destitutes on the street by  putting them in rehabilitation centres, where they could get proper care and attention, and probably get over their psychotic disorder.
Though government says some of the destitutes, including those who beg for alms, try to escape from rehabilitation, sociologists are of the opinion that the destitutes would remain at the centre, if they are well catered for.
Investigations carried out at the State Rehabilitation Centre at Amoyo, a suburb of Ilorin in Ifelodun Local Government Area, showed that the centre is a ghost of its former self. The centre has a staff quarters for male and female, and a workshop for vocational training, but it has no clinic or Medical Doctor to look after the patients. However, the centre barely functions owing to lack of personnel to man the structure. Daily Trust gathered that there are only nine patients at the centre, which is paid N10,000 per month from the supervising Ministry of Social Development.
The centre has been relying mostly on donations from good Samaritans in the society with little attention from government, said a source at the centre. “What we require is a funding that would make the place attractive. Government says the destitutes don’t like rehabilitation and try to run away, but they didn’t consider the condition of living of inmates at the centre,” the source added.
The State Commissioner for Social Development, Mr. Segun Aboyeji could not be reached for comment. Several visits to his office to get a response were unsuccessful, as he was said to be busy.

Speaking with our correspondent, a Sociologist at University of Ilorin, Dr. Joseph Fayeye said only an effective rehabilitation system would protect the destitutes and enable them to come out of their problem.
He said, “They should be kept out of the public glare. They should be kept in a place where they can be properly cared for as Nigerians, and not allowed to roam around. In the process of roaming around, they can say many things and do many things that could result in their being lynched. Somebody who is not okay mentally can say many things that are not correct. They can start to make statements that can indict them in the eyes of the public and lead to their death.
“So, if they are kept in a place where they can be cared for by social workers, by medical personnel and so on and so forth, then their lives could be preserved, and many of them can even progress to become better in health, rather than becoming endangered species.”
According to him, the destitutes should be apprehended  and brought back to the rehabilitation centre, when they run away.
He added, “Normally they have to run because the institutional care is custodial and restrictive ,and some of them would want to wander around because they are used to wandering .But overtime they would adjust if they are kept in such place. If they run away, they should be apprehended and brought back to the institutional care.”

The sociologist therefore charged members of the public to care for the destitute ,instead of lynching them.
“Members of the public should try to understand that they are Nigerians and people should not take laws into their hands. Another thing they should do is to also try to find out the truth about the statements they make ,because some of them can say that they are the ones that caused an accident along Ganmo road, when there was actually no accident, and the uninformed public would have killed them.
“So the best thing is to find out the truth of what they are saying and see them as people who are disabled, because mentally disabled people are to be cared for, not to be killed,” he added.
Also speaking, the Director, Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, Dr. Mahfouz Adedimeji, berated the rate at which people set suspected kidnappers ablaze, saying such action demeans human dignity.
“Setting human beings  ablaze, while alive, without recourse to law and order, and kidnapping, both boil down to the fact that we have no value for life and this is very unfortunate,” he said.
The unfolding scenario where people feign psychotic disorders to commit crimes, has no doubt underscored the imperative of an efficient and well equipped rehabilitation programme, for genuine destitutes in all the nooks and crannies of the country, because if they are not taken off the streets, they could fall victims of mob attacks.