We seem not ever learn from our recent history as a people; from one issue to another to another to another…the possibility of brakes for reflection is totally absent.
The mob(the active crowd) went for Naira Marley’s life when he was accused wrongly for killing Mohbad even when he was far away in the Netherlands. A section of the mob said it is possible to kill someone from there(maybe with witchcraft) another said it doesn’t matter, he killed the upcoming musician anyway. There were almost the French-like protests in most cities with smell of cannabis and other illicit drugs embracing the air. He would later be found not guilty of any complicity in the death. But as at that time, the mob had already left city centres, leaving their minds behind.
From there, the mob moved in a single linear line when Dele Farotimi accused Aare Afe Babalola SAN, in a published book, of bribing some Supreme Court judges in a local Lagos case in which he was not even a counsel. Even without an ounce of evidence, the mob, believed him anyway. The then Obidient old lawyer was overturned like a cairn of stone to become a member of the establishment. All his support for the Movement ended in fumes. He was insulted, dismissed, abused and the mob was riled for arresting Farotimi for defamation. It took the intervention of Yoruba Obas to get Farotimi off the hook. Till today, no evidence ever came from the shaggy haired lawyer/activist/politician. He would adopt the ‘no comment’ posture and then come out a year later with pieces of ingratitude.
Oh no, before the mob could exhale from the irritating support for the alleged defamer, Senator Natasha accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, a long time family friend, of harassing her sexually. The usual standby mob didn’t wait for any sort of evidence, Akpabio was murdered in dreams, in realms beyond the twin eyes could see and even covens. He was guilty in the court of public opinion immediately. Protesters swore they will take over the National Assembly even when they saw Natasha was unruly during a plenary – the visible reason why she was ejected from the floor. All attempt to extract some analytical evidence from the accusing senator proved abortive. The mob thrashed all forms of logical deductions and went excavating similar accusations that were never substantiated. Even when supporting evidence showed the said senator had a very consistent history of lying to the extent she confessed on tape to a potential recruit that nothing of such ever happened, the mob closed all their ears with wool.
Those who doubted Tracy’s inconsistent story of being owed and sexually harassed, a new diaper women now wear as weapon, were profiled and insulted. The mob don’t want skepticism, they want off the court conviction. No need for logic, no need for evidence, no need for questions, no need for scrutiny…as far as you are on the other side if the dividing fence, you must be guilty. It took the interventional confession of this same lady, Tracy Ohiri, for the mob to recede, not totally, but with interest in a black 100 million settlement that was signed off in Chase Manhattan Bank, Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
The next victim is waiting, perhaps sleeping as we speak, unknown to him that he would be a terrible suspect of a crime he might never know anything about. The aim might be simple; rope him in, the mob is mad, they will take it from there protesting in Abuja and other places. Sowore, VDM, and others of their ilks are there to raise the barometer of irrational judgement. Are they not in Aba protesting for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the convicted terrorist, who is languishing in a Sokoto prison? Never underestimate what they are capable of doing. It is a tragic experience, and we must learn to live with it, or else, the option is to leave the country for them – 200 million registered voters.
