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By Chinelo Obogo
Southern Nigeria recorded the highest rate of mob lynching in the last four years, a report by SBM Intelligence has revealed.
A data collated by the agency from January 2019 to the violence in Dei Dei, Abuja on My 18, 2022, indicated that there have been 279 reported incidents of mob violence in the country, out of which 391 persons were killed.
The report said mob lynching proved more deadlier in southern Nigeria as the region accounted for 223 of the 391 deaths.
In terms of frequency of lynching during the perid, the report said the South had far higher frequency with 197 of 279 reported incidents, two and half times the North’s 82.
It, however, said the bloodiest lynching incidents were in the North; first when residents of Majifa, Kankara LGA of Katsina State took matters into their hands and lynched 33 bandits who had previously attacked them in April, 2021, and in Tangaza, Tangaza LGA of Sokoto State in September 2021 where 13 people were killed after residents tracked down and lynched bandits who attacked them.
The report said lynching in the South were likelier to be for economic reasons and tend to have victims in the low single digits, while except for two cases, one in the South had up to eight victims in a single digits while except for two cases, one in Oyo and the other in Rivers both in 2020, none of the incidents in the South had up to eight victims in a single incident.
The report showed the South West was by far the most violent geographical zone in mob justice, as over the period under review, there were 100 incidents or 36 per cent of the total cases of lynching occurring in the country.
It further stated that in all regions, incidents of mob justice increased in frequency in the last two years, indicating that more Nigerians were losing trust and respect for state adjudication and prefer to resort to extra judicial means for restitution.
A breakdown showed the following: North West, 30; North East, 13; North Central, 39; South West, 100; South South, 64 and South East, 22. The data for the number of casualties shows the North West,100;South West, 98; South South, 82; South East, 43; North Central, 42 and North East, 26.
