Innocent Of Death …Unraveling Killing Of Aluu Four

Prof Ajienka And Abubakar

Gory sight, is an understatement. Barbaric, an attempt to
justify inadvertently, a mis-step into the forbidden inheritance of stale
years, when, might was right. And to describe as chilling, the  butchering of four young men in search of
tertiary education at the University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Rivers State,
simply, a foiled attempt at boring poetry. So what better words?

Who feels it knows it best. In this case, the dead four, who
were first, dehumanised, later maimed and then slaughtered. Not done, the
killers then played God. Judged their victims, found them guilty and sentenced
them to hell by roasting, one fueled by used tyres and other combustibles. And
the under-graduates, all Nigerians, were roasted to death, at peace time and
therefore, cannot be depended upon to choose the right adjectives to describe
the gory pains of their last hours. And their voices also died.

Whatever is now coughed in condemnation therefore, is merely
the product of humanity’s awe, disbelief, shock and indeed empathy. How, could
fellow humans, in the 21st century, be so inhuman to their kind, and cause such
shameful drama to be posted on the world wide web, and with such impunity?

Why such killing? Who authorised such barbarism in a state,
where the administration has repeatedly preached against violence and cult
related breach of the peace?

Where were they when less heinous threats to peace cost
settlers of the Abonnema Wharf, what once served as their homes? Why should a
community allow a few to assume the right to usurp the powers of the security
structures and courts in the land and impose death sentence on others? Which
reasonable village-head would authorise the killing of strangers, particularly
students living in his community, at peace time?

What indeed was the crime of the Aluu four? Whatever it was,
by their killing, such alleged sins have been wiped clean, for, such is the
innocence of death. And nothing can justify such crass demonstration of moral
depravity grounded in cannibalistic grand standing.

As would be expected, there has been a benumbing outpouring
of emotions, in condemnations and calls for justice, the kind of justice,
denied the dead.

Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was visibly
grieved and shocked at the manner of the killing and had since ordered
full-scale investigation. Some arrests have also been made and on the last
count, some, even set to be charged. So what manner of justice is society
haggling for? One that brings back the dead to life? One that would ensure the
completion of the years in search of higher education? One that fulfils the
hopes and dreams of their parents, themselves parents of the future, as would
any good child in adulthood? What hope is now left for the parents for replacement?
Will this wound ever heal? When? How?

Perhaps, the more annoying aspect of the jungle justice of
Aluu, is the claim that the dead four allegedly stole laptops and cell phones.
Assuming, but not conceding that its true, does such crime rise to justify
capital sentence of the barbaric kind meted to the dead? He who goes by the
sword dies by it, so the sages often say, so is the killing of the Aluu four,
over allegations of theft a sound judgement? What  of the killers, if found?

Nothing can justify such barbarism in a clime of laws. The
right thing was for the Aluu village-head to insist on handing over the four to
the law enforcement authorities, and if over-powered by the mob, invite the
Police to save himself the bloody end society today condemns. Did the
village-head do that?

Why didn’t he, if he didn’t? Where does that inaction place
him? But why such inhumanity to fellow humans at this time? No answer can
make-good the early hell the youngsters were sentenced to. This is perhaps why
nearly all are united in condemnation, of the senseless killing.

In a joint statement, last Friday, chairman of Ikwerre Local
Government Area, Hon Welendu Chijemezu-Amadi and the House of Assembly member
representing Ikwerre constituency, Hon Azubike Wanjoku sympathised with
families of the victims, the university of Port Harcourt community and the
entire people of Rivers State over the gruesome killing of the four students of
the University of Port Harcourt in Aluu community.

‘Our attention has been drawn to publications in various
media that the students were killed by a vigilante group in Aluu community’,
the statement said and went on to ‘state categorically that there is no
vigilante group in Aluu community known to or approved by Ikwerre Local
Government Area and any allusion to the killing being perpetrated by a
vigilante group is unfounded”.

Both Ikwerre political leaders, used the platform to “appeal
to the general public, particularly students of the University of Port Harcourt
to remain calm and be law abiding as security agencies are working round the
clock to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to book”.

In an apparent attempt to restore hope, the duo, condemned
in strong terms, the act of violence as barbaric and vexatious.

“It is an utter mockery of democratic civilisation. This act
sets our dear and peace-loving state back to the bloody era of the stone age
when life was nasty, short and brutish,” the statement said, adding “this is an
act worth condemning not only in the privacy of our houses, but also in the
open”.

In like manner, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), described the recent killing of the four undergraduates at Aluu in
Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state by yet-to-be-identified persons, as
‘most barbaric, chilling and unexplainable’.

In a statement, chairman of the party, Chief Godspower Ake
lamented the wild display of hatred shown by those who killed the young men and
in a bizarre manner they did.

“That act is an anti-thesis to the efforts at value re-orientation
being championed by the administration in the state”, the PDP stated.

Many others, including the Senate, the Presidency and indeed
Okrika chiefs have also condemned the act with calls on the security agencies
to do a thorough job which alone can assuage tempers and restore hope  for a peaceful future.

However, no act of violence in reprisal can be justified as
two wrongs do not and can never make a right. All, who are aggrieved, and by
the nature of condemnations, most of humanity, though in varied degrees, need
to exercise caution and avoid inflammatory statements capable of aggravating an
already tense situation.

The security agencies must be allowed to do a thorough  job in spite of skepticism being expressed in
some quarters and leave the rest to the courts. All must understand that the
unfortunate incident is a dent on the security record of the state, whose
governor has done everything to restore the state from the insecurity he
inherited and had done a good job of it.

The relative peace enjoyed, the restoration of nightlife, an
improved investment climate and above all, burstling Garden City are only few
of the many rewards of the Governor’s doggedness in his crusade to fight
insecurity whereever it rears its head. The Aluu madness, isolated as it is, is
only a temporary distraction which should not be allowed to escalate beyond the
alleged burning of three houses in Aluu by protesting students.

The killings are condemnable and any reprisal, no less so.
Families and communities that lost loved
ones should leave their pains to their Maker, who alone gives and takes.
They must agree that humanity lacks the power to restore life and should submit
to the court of the all-knowing God.

At times like this, there is the tendency among fifth
columnists to play the ethnic card and attempt to engineer inter-communal
strife and disturbances. This is not only unnecessary but wrong because even
the Ikwerre Local Government Area, under whose authority Aluu, sits, has
frontally condemned the acts of violence as did Okrika chiefs, whose two sons
were victims.

Already, some are imputing such animosities  which should be dismissed as baseless. What
happened in Aluu cannot be an Ikwerre aggression against Okrika sons, but
simply a regrettable mob action which is as ill-advised as it is condemnable.
In fact, all affected communities should see it as a joint assault on the
relative peace and good-neighbourliness thus far enjoyed in recent times.

More importantly, the state government has shown true
commitment to efforts geared towards finding the killers by ordering the
immediate arrest of the village-head and others suspected to know anything
about the incident. Not only that, government has repeatedly urged the security
agencies to not only do a thorough investigation but also a timely one, as
justice delayed often amounts to justice denied.

Now therefore, is the time for all well-meaning Nigerians,
especially, indigenes of the state to remain united against that singular act
that attempted to sentence the state to the stone ages, when, might was right
and when human life had no value any more than those of rodents. To ensure
that, anyone with useful information that could help Police investigation
should volunteer same for the peaceful co-existence of all peoples of the
state.

My Agony is that some mischief makers have started seeking
undeserved relevance through inciting statements and threats intended to paint
an inter-communal colouration of an otherwise unfortunate, unplanned and
spur-of-the-moment madness by an ill-advised few.

Methinks all affected community leaders must close ranks,
open potent channels of communication and express sincere empathy with families
of the victims, and that way, render irrelevant those violent jobbers who may
seek from the incident their own shameless relevance.

Soye Wilson Jamabo