IGP Declares Jungle Justice Murder, Orders Nationwide Crackdown

 

The Inspector-General of Police, Tunde Disu, has warned Nigerians against taking the law into their own hands, declaring that jungle justice is murder and directing police commands nationwide to deal with mob action as homicide.

In a public address on Tuesday, Disu directed Commissioners of Police across Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to treat every case of mob action as homicide and conduct full investigations using forensic and intelligence tools. He also warned that those who organise, encourage or obstruct police intervention during mob attacks could face criminal prosecution.

The declaration comes against the backdrop of disturbing videos of mob attacks circulating on social media and renewed concerns over extrajudicial killings. One case that has generated particular concern was the death of 25-year-old Ibrahim Mbaya, a University of Jos graduate popularly known as Ibee, who was reportedly attacked in Jos on July 26 after being accused of stealing an iPhone 12. Police have arrested suspects in connection with his death.

Mbaya's death illustrates one of the most frightening features of jungle justice: a person does not have to be guilty to become a victim. An accusation can be enough. A crowd gathers, anger spreads, evidence becomes irrelevant and, within minutes, suspicion can turn into an irreversible punishment.

That is precisely what the formal justice system is designed to prevent. A criminal allegation is supposed to trigger investigation, arrest, evidence, prosecution and trial. The accused has the right to be heard, and a court—not a crowd—is expected to determine guilt or innocence.

Yet jungle justice continues to find space in Nigerian communities partly because many citizens believe the formal system is too slow, too expensive or too ineffective. When people see suspects arrested only to watch cases drag on for years, some begin to convince themselves that immediate punishment is the only form of justice available.

That belief, however understandable its origins may be, creates another and potentially more dangerous problem. The crowd that decides to punish a suspect has no mechanism for correcting its mistake. If the allegation is false, the victim is already dead. If the accused is innocent, there is no appeal. If the real criminal is elsewhere, the crowd may have killed the wrong person.

Disu has also widened the scope of police attention beyond those who physically assault victims. He warned that people who mobilise crowds, encourage attacks, film and circulate such incidents or prevent police officers from intervening could also face prosecution under relevant criminal laws.

The warning about filming and circulating mob attacks is particularly significant in the age of social media. Videos of violence can transform a local crime into a national spectacle within minutes. What begins as evidence of an attack can also become entertainment, encouragement or a form of public validation for those participating in the violence.

But a police directive, however strong, will not by itself eliminate jungle justice. The deeper problem is the relationship between citizens and the institutions responsible for protecting them. Where people trust the police to investigate, courts to hear cases promptly and the justice system to punish offenders, there is less incentive to create an alternative justice system on the street.

That makes the fight against jungle justice more than a policing issue. It is also a test of Nigeria's justice system and its ability to convince ordinary citizens that the law can deliver justice without requiring them to deliver it themselves.

The challenge for the police now is to ensure that the new directive produces more than arrests after another tragic video has gone viral. Cases of mob violence must be investigated thoroughly, perpetrators must be brought before the courts and innocent suspects must be protected before crowds have the opportunity to turn allegations into death sentences.

For Nigerians, the message should be equally clear: reporting a suspected criminal is an act of civic responsibility; killing one is a crime. Suspicion is not proof, anger is not evidence, and a crowd is not a court.

If Nigeria is serious about strengthening the rule of law, the first step is accepting a simple principle: no accusation, however serious, should carry a punishment that only a lawful trial can impose.