Until two weeks ago I never heard of the one man squad. My even knowing about him was by chance. I was at a store beside my house two weeks ago when I heard a guy telling a story in an animated manner. The gist of the story was that a popular criminal had just moved into our area. I did not see anything unique in that afterall criminals abound in any environment and had rights to freedom of movement just like any law abiding citizen. The person telling the story then proceeded to tell me a story that possessed the characteristic of what legends are made of. The story goes thus one man squad got the name because unlike other criminals he operated alone. The primary aim of his crime was to rape. He seemed invincible, as neither guns nor knifes could arm him. He could also disappear in a twinkling of an eye from the scene of a crime. But what really brought fear was that he had HIV and intended spreading it to as many people as possible. Hence he raped as many as 17 ladies a day. I thought these a joke. Seventeen women a day! God, the man should run for stud of the year. Anyway his preference seemed to be married women. He appeared not to differentiate between a newly married woman and a mother of ten. Everybody was game to him and whoever interfered when he was committing his crime he killed. So you can imagine the fear people where living in considering that he had single handedly put most of the occupants of Eneka a suburb in Port Harcourt to flight.
Three days ago Mr. One man squad met his demise in the most unlikely of manner. The man, whom neither bullets nor cutlasses could harm, was burnt to death by an irate crowd who were simply over prepared for him. The story goes that he was caught in the act of raping someone. Following the approved techniques used for catching disappearing entities they held him from the back while others poured sand on him. These I was told would prevent him from disappearing. Thousands rushed from my area to go and watch him. He was interviewed and rape victims identified him, after which jungle justice was meted out to him. People prevented the police from laying their hands on him under the belief they would simply collect bribes and release him. The level of rejoicing witnessed at the scene of his murder and the fact that I who firmly believe in doing things according to the law approved of his murder put me to shame. I did not go and watch the burning, but my conscience approved of it. It caused me to question my values. If I believed Mr. A has the right to life who gave me the right to think Mr. B should not enjoy those same rights. Even worse, the Radio’s and Television stations which should act as the conscience of the people were agog with the good news. Not even once questioning the legality or not of the action. I now realized the problem was not me but the society. Was it the sense of injustice that motivates the society to approve of jungle justice or are we simply barbarians masquerading as enlightened individuals while deep down we crave those good Old Stone Age era when justice was decided by whom was the strongest.
