ALUU4: JUSTICE YET TO BE SERVED

It has been two years since the murder of four undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt – Ugonna Ibuzor, Llyod Michael, Tekena Elkanah and Chidiaka Biringa. They were killed in Aluu, Rivers State. They were allegedly beaten to a pulp and then set ablaze by an irate mob over allegations of theft. The incident, captured on video by eye witnesses, attracted widespread outrage and was tagged the most bizarre case of jungle justice to ever occur in Nigeria.


……. “Thieves, thieves” he screamed, it was almost funny, not until more voices joined the chorus as they screamed and shouted on us……We could have run at least to save our lives, but little did we know how the day would end. From a handful of young men shouting and throwing questions at us, it escalated to a crowd of angry mob.

There was no way we could escape this one, so we calmed down. They pushed us around and then stripped us all. We were more than embarrassed, the whole community watched, I recognised few faces from the crowd.

Some called us cultists, some called us thieves, initially we were worried about the shame of being stripped naked in front of the crowd...The shame quickly turned into fear for our lives...They beat us so badly, we could not mutter a word...Our heart s were saying "Please, please wait we're not thieves" but our mouths would not move.

We were tired, aching and gasping for the breath of life...We look at the crowd and we saw children, men and women, our fellow students....Shock met disbelieve....Our hearts cried for help. We thought it was a dream, this cannot be happening. They are not going to kill us...They can’t now…At a worst case scenario, they will hand us over to the police or something.

Finally the police came….We were relieved not until the police gave the go ahead to continue…. “Omo see Gobe! At that point we knew we had entered one chance, we were on our own”……We wanted to wake up from this dream.... But sadly enough, the dream was not an illusion but apparent reality... We shouted, somebody help! Please Somebody Help!

I thought about my siblings, who were somewhere on their daily businesses, while we were dying somewhere in Aluu community......I wondered how my mum would take this. She would fall apart. I begged God to hold her for me, comfort and make her strong for me, I prayed same for my friends.

We were so badly beaten…Minutes turned to hours…We were hoping just to die so that it will all end....We looked up high, the sky was still….Then came the tires and petrol...and we were thinking...No, they won’t burn us now….Tires landed on our necks, they kept hitting us, but we were numb already……No No No Nooo! The fire came... The sun became so hot.....We hoped for the rain which never came....Oh the Pain...So unbearable….We rolled around, tried to reach for each other, I wondered who would give up first……suddenly the pain stopped.

I couldn’t hear any other thing, there was silence and peace….We crossed over to eternity….Waving our hands to our lifeless body....Finally we found rest from our tormentors. I thanked God, the pain was over …..We were betrayed.

Betrayed by the community who made so many assumptions and exercised jungle justice on us....betrayed by those who stood by and enjoyed this injustice, rather than help, took snap shots and videos of us.....betrayed by the authorities who came and did nothing....betrayed by every observer who thinks 4 whatever reason, we deserve this gruesome judgment. ...betrayed by any human being who whatever reason thinks any circumstance around our death was justified by the judgment served upon us.

Riposare in Pace Amici…..Viva la Cosa Nostra.....