The “Aluutization” of Agbara. Or “How to Die on Easter Sunday”.
When the news of the killing of four young men in the university community of Aluu, in Rivers State, with its horrid video, hit the consciousness of Nigerians from varying walks of life; it was greeted with widespread condemnation by all who felt disturbed by the horrendous resort to misguided jungle justice by Nigerians, leading to the barbaric termination of the lives of promising young men who have come to be reduced to the mere literary appellation of “The Aluu 4″. Not a little indignation was expressed by many, not only for the crude conduct of the perpetrators of the dastardly and civility-repugnant descent to subhuman levels, but also for the wider implications on the social life of the people, in which there was made manifest, an apparent lack of faith in the capacity of public institutions to dispense justice as due.
Social media platforms were plunged into a frenzy of sorts, as for days on end, the horrific photographs of the Aluu 4, were bitterly etched on our collective psyche. Our humanity was questioned. The Police and the entire judicial system were put on the spot in bad light. The people of Aluu community were subjected to public ridicule for evolving a society that could tolerate the desecration of human life for so flimsy an excuse as mere suspicion of criminality. Or was it?
Following the sour taste which the Aluu incident left in our mouths and the disfiguring scar that it left behind on our collective face, which is already excessively scarred by a myriad of socioeconomic cum political maladies that plague us; one would think that Nigerians would resolve to never again allow the display of such barbarous barbarity. But no! Other communities are struggling to outdo the Aluu mob in such despicable infamy. You think not?
On Easter Sunday, 31st March, 2013, yours truly, alongside my elder brother and a friend, were victims of mob justice, if that’s what you would call what happened to us. On the said day, at about 10am, we were headed for Orogun, in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, for a family engagement. Naturally, we had to pass through Agbara, as we were coming from Ughelli. As we progressed on our journey towards Orogun, in Agbara, we came to a portion of the road that was partially blocked with a canopy and some kind of structure that looked like a telecommunications mast, in form and height, only that it was wrapped in cloth. While we attempted to do a u-turn, taking photographs with our phones of this imposing and awe-inspiring structure; a young man beckoned on us to come forward, stating that there was room enough to pass. Thus, we aborted the u-turn and continued forward slowly, only for our vehicle to be suddenly attacked by a rampaging group of about fifty young men who forcefully opened the doors and dragged us out. No sooner had we come out of the vehicle than these men descended on us with the beating of our lives while dispossessing us of our phones, wallets, and part of our clothing. Our offence, according to the few that managed to proffer a reason for their actions, was taking photographs of their supposed cultural deity of sorts. We were dragged on the asphalt coated road, manhandled, hit with fists and all manners of objects, thrown into a Toyota Hilux van, given more beatings, brought out of the vehicle, and beaten some more. All these, despite our unceasing plea for leniency as we couldn’t have knowingly photographically offended their gods.
At some point, albeit, following the intervention of Divinity, there was a cessation of violence. Some “elders” were drafted in, to adjudicate. After impressing on us, the enormity of our sacrilegious conduct, according to Agbara standards, and after we had already been served some heavy handed justice; we were pronounced guilty as charged. Our fines were: a goat each, twenty thousand Naira, each, and some undisclosed sum of money for drinks for the youths and for appeasement purposes. We begged for a less harsher punishment as we didn’t have access to the amount of money that is needed to offset our culture-desecration liability. They were gracious to accept about thirty eight thousand Naira as remission for our sins. Two phones and an iPad were returned to us, while two other phones, wallets, and a pair of sandals, could not be located; or so they made us believe. While calls were being made for anyone with the phones to bring them, we advised ourselves to seize the moment, when violence had subsided and our fines accepted, graciously, we thought; to quickly take our leave.
The entire incident spanned a duration of about two hours, as we were back on the road around noon. And yes, the security agencies have been apprised, procedurally, if you ask me.
The purpose of relating this experience here, is certainly not to elicit pity from readers. Far from it. I have had, and I surmise same goes for my brother and also for my friend, a tremendous outpouring of emotion and concern from several individuals, from within and without the shores of Nigeria. What this piece aims to achieve is to bring to mind once again, that a huge veil of darkness pervades the land, and we must all do our minutest bits to dispel this darkness of criminality, ignorance, superstition, and demeaning crudeness.
In the case of the Aluu 4, the victims were students in a community other than their places of ancestral origin. In our case, the perpetrators and victims were all Urhobo-speaking to varying degrees. In fact, my paternal lineage is traced to the Orogun community which borders Agbara. If we were subjected to such an ordeal by 21st Century barbarians who were hungry for blood as well as for meaningful engagement, what would have been the fate of persons who were total strangers to the Delta? What manner of society, in this day and age, would allow its young people to hold human life with such disdain and be as bloodthirsty as our assailants were? Can we lay any claim to being civil when a good number of the people in our various communities have been conditioned by defaultto be a menace to society? What is the responsibility of government at various levels in tackling this menace? What is the role of the National Orientation Agency and the traditional institutions of our society? Of what use is holding firmly to a traditional practice that adds no value to the life of the people and encourages jungle justice? What principles guide our national educational policies? Are we interested in turning out school-leavers who suffer compulsory mass-promotion whereas they remain very shallow in the humanistic aspects ofdevelopment?
It is trite knowledge, one would think, that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as propounded by the United Nations, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which, Nigeria is signatory to; guarantees the right to human dignity of any person as well as the right to education, or that irreducible minimum of enlightenment required for the pursuit of an ordered life that guarantees one’s sustenance while respecting the rights of the other person to equally exist. It is also trite knowledge that in Nigeria, fundamental human rights are hardly guaranteed, much less those that fall within the ambits of socioeconomic rights.
What can we do about it, other than expressing pity whenever we hear or read tales of such ubiquitous barbarity that is upon us? Is it enough to parade several academic degrees and titles on our persona, whereas we ignore the apparent degeneration that lives side-by-side with us? Is there really nothing we can do to confront indolence and barbaric practices in our society, as a government, and as individuals?
A towering lesson I took away from the mob attack which we miraculously survived is that, whatever ennobling virtue which an individual possesses, is not enough for his safety, if he dwells in the midst of misguided people. You know nothing, until that which you know, and is edifying, is also known by the mass of the people. Put differently, we are poor and insecure, if, despite our individual havens of affluence and comfort, our neighbours remain largely poor and crude. It is said that a necessary first step to solving a problem, is an acknowledgement that there is indeed a problem. The mindset and orientation that pervades many of our communities, in the words of Chinua Achebe, is too dangerous for silence.
I am @efewanogho, on Twitter.
Laus Deo!
No comments:
Post a Comment