The circumstances surrounding the lynching to death of a traveling party of “hunters” is unfortunate. They are the latest victims of an unending carnage in a broken crime infested country.
No earth rotation is complete in this nation without a mother crying over the death of her child and a father engaged in the gruesome ordeal of burying a son or daughter in this bloodshed carnival, evil reigns supreme as criminals are having a field day.
There are criminals in the corridors of power, criminals in the judiciary, criminals in legislative assembly, criminals on the highways, criminals at the airports and seaports, criminals on the waterways, criminals in the streets and criminals in the forests. The whole country itself is a huge crime scene.
Is it necessary for vigilantes to mount roadblocks in Uromi Edo State and elsewhere when there are regular security forces? Is it the new norm for vigilantes to take laws into their hands? But why not? Certainly, they have lost faith and mistrust the justice system.
The failure of government at all levels to be alive and be responsible to upholding their sacred duty of maintaining law and order, protecting the territorial integrity of the nation from internal and external aggression, has more than anything else played a major role in the bloodbath occurring daily in the country.
People are being smashed to death like flies and cockroaches in a thousand ways, women are being raped while farming to put food on their tables, people including religious figures are being kidnapped for ransom and sometimes get killed every day yet the law apparatus is unable to mitigate, arrest and punish perpetrators of these crimes.
Shockingly those in government turn a defeat ear to the cries of families who have been victimised by these crimes. Worryingly in some cases, law enforcement agents have actively participated or encouraged these merchants of death.
In Kaduna, Benue, Enugu, Ebonyi and Edo, Ondo, Oyo, Nasarawa, Plateau and many other States, countless people have lost their lives and their property, law enforcement agencies either turn a blind eye or have no desire to prosecute those who hide in the forests to commit these atrocious crimes.
So why wouldn’t Uromi vigilante take laws into their hands? Why would the town’s folks who have been terrorised and made victims in their own land applaud a lawless act of vengeance?
It is quite interesting the outrage the killing of the “hunters” has elicited among the political class. The same group of people who are mute with a facade of indifference when the women of Estako and Esan cried in pain, when the men buried their dead? Perhaps The “hunters” are the real Nigerian citizens while those that have been ambushed in their sleep, in their churches and in their farmlands are second class Nigerians.
The ruling political class and their grandstanding in the media only get load when killing of certain Nigerians touch sensitive “nerves.” They will come out with statements to convince those remotely and directly affected they are on top of the insecurities that have made them victims in their own country.
Questions should be asked why were the “hunters” travelling with guns in the wee hours of the Thursday March 27, 2025? Why have the “hunters” crossed State boundaries to go hunt for bush meat in Port Harcourt? What kind of guns were they carrying that easily set off the suspicion of the vigilantes? Some said dane guns…dane guns are outdated commodity in this modern era.
The other side of the story being told by the community members was that based on intelligence, the truck carrying the ‘hunters” was suspected of conveying arms and ammunition and the vigilantes wanted it searched.
But the “hunters” refused and this led to an argument, which resulted to one of the vigilantes being stabbed by one the “hunters” and all hell was let loose.
It is wrong for the vigilantes to have summarily passed judgement and executed the suspects, what they did is unjustifiable, they broke the law. And so did the policemen who failed to act when some of the travelers were taken to the Uromi police station, if the police officers were awake and attentive to the charged atmosphere the lives of the 16 “hunters” would have been spared. But who knows if they have surrendered their duties to the vigilantes all along?
But much of the blame should be apportioned to the same howling political juggernauts who failed in their duties to secure the country. They have allowed crime to take a front seat in the theater of uncertainties facing the nation. A pressing issue of national importance those in the helms have selectively chosen to address.
President Bola Tinubu who was celebrating his “73 birthday” when the killings occurred gave an order to his security agents to arrest the petrol and matches vigilantes, nice…but there was no such alacrity when a Catholic priest and a young seminarian Peter Andrew were kidnapped and later the young Andrew was killed in Ivukwa Community, Etsako East Local Government Area.
In that same local government so many atrocities have been committed by criminals hiding in the forests, there are so many criminal gangs roaming around in Etsako and Esan local governments, they come to town on market days, terrorise the citizens and go Scot free.
The citizens have cried out for help but there is no word from government at the state and federal level, now probes have been launched because this killing rub off in the wrong way. In a matter of days, the hullabaloo will die down and another big incident is waiting to happen.
Then of course the expression of outrage in the media will follow no questions asked. The circle of bloodbath continues and bandits, robbers, kidnappers, ritualists and their political patrons like vampires will continue to have their fill of blood. Please Keep yourself safe!
