Lagos Lawmaker Warns Military against Jungle Justice

Honourable Segun Olulade the chairman, house committee on information, strategy and security of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has enjoined men of the Nigerian Military Force to respect the law of the country and protect the sanctity of its constitution instead of taking laws into their hand and resorting to jungle justice whenever they feel irritated by civilians.

Olulade made the comment on Monday, in reference to last Friday’s faceoff between the soldiers and BRT operators on Ikorodu Road, Lagos State. Several BRT buses, estimated at over N100 million, were burnt in the incident. The faceoff had been sparked off when a soldier was reportedly killed after being knocked down by a BRT.

It is widely believed that if the soldier had obeyed the rule that prohibits other vehicles from using BRT dedicated lines, the incident would not have occurred at all.

Olulade said since the incident occurred on Friday, he has been trying to compare various reports, asking what could have justified the officials of the Nigerian Army to take to the streets en mass, destroying vehicles and humiliating innocent civilians.

"I am seriously worried by various reports involving our security personnel. The army is a respected institution by Nigerian standard. The army is seen as reserved and cultured. What happened was very surprising," Olulade said.

The Army orientation is not civil but military, hence it is expected that the Army would stick to discipline whenever there is a negative incident in the civil community. The army is the last authority to toy with the law; the army has no excuse for frightening the society with actions that promptly translate to poor security on the civilians they are meant to protect."

Olulade, enjoined both the Military and the civilians to be law abiding and avoid any form of jungle justice because “if everyone has to dispense justice the way he feels, we will not have a society”.

"It is high time we all learnt to be civil and protect the law,” Olulade said. “I hope the army will fish out the perpetrators of the incident in Ikorodu Road and bring them to justice to correct the bad signal the incident has created and negative impression people now have of the Army."