Photo credit: Premium Times
The movie by Linda Ikeji is not one for the faint-hearted.
It’s in memory of the Aluu 4.
They were students of the University of Port Harcourt who were lynched in 2012.
Like I’ve always written, I don’t write to entertain. Rather, I do say the truth the way I’ve seen it.
Now, has a lot changed in Nigerian society since those young boys were murdered through jungle justice?
There is even a new phrase, “Nigeria has happened to” someone!
It’s the story of a boy who had given some items to someone who lived in Aluu village to sell. When the guy failed to remit the proceeds of the sale, the seller got his friends to accompany him to the village.
Before then, Aluu had been having issues with armed robbers who would come to rob, kill and rape. When the boys got there very early one morning, the boy he gave the items to was even asking why he was there.
When the four saw he was not willing to give them the money, they were going to give him a beating. But he escaped.
He then shouted “thief, thief.”
The boys were then arrested by the vigilante.
That was where their problem started. The vigilante gave them some beating, seized their jewellery and, most importantly, their identity cards.
Since their identity cards had been seized, they weren’t able to identify themselves as bonafide students of UNIPORT.
When it was daybreak, they took them to the “court” of the village chief. The chief asked where the home of the person they had come to meet was. He then detailed the vigilante to follow them there.
Meanwhile, a crowd was increasingly gathering. Most of them were carrying rocks, machetes, logs, and so on. The crowd followed them.
When they got to the house, the guy was nowhere to be found.
They were then dragged along the streets. The police could have been the boys’ saving grace when they eventually came. But when they saw they could be overpowered by the crowd, they drove away leaving the poor boys to the mercy of the frustrated crowd.
The jungle justice continued, the boys were lynched and their corpses were set ablaze.
Methinks the police could have been allowed to do their duty. But then, the frustrated crowd was like a bloody lion in their transferred aggression. Although some may argue that the crowd was right to be frustrated with the system that was not working, with hunger, with insecurity, with joblessness, with lack of electric power, with lack of potable water, with lack of a good healthcare system and other basic facilities. But then, did jungle justice solve their problems? Even if they had made their way to Aso Rock to transfer their aggression, I still wouldn’t have supported them.
It’s a movie reminding Nigerians of our sordid past. The incident happened in 2012. Since then, has anything changed in Nigeria? Does that not mean we are still living in our sordid past?
The classroom where the students are having a test is just like any other room. The place where the students are being addressed for “aluta” seems like a space between market stalls.
Apart from these, the movie is a great one!
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