Oluwapelumi Oyetimein: Blue Murder (30 Days, 30 Voices)

PelumiWhoever set Al-Mustapha free must have forgotten what the Abacha regime looked like, with terror looming over the land and everyone wondering who was going to be killed next

Every man at one time or another feels slighted. Either by a fellow human or an organization or even the government and then we begin to ask what happened to fairness and justice. The truth is that good and bad are very relative terms depending on where you are standing. If you are trying to bring in the constitution here, may I remind you that after some people pass a certain law, it is up to some people to interpret that same law which means it is subject to how they understand what is being said in the law.

The world over, the interpretation of certain laws is at best appalling. From Kudirat Abiola to Trayvon Martin and even Damilola Taylor. I thought the court was supposed to be the last hope of the common man and yet that hope was dashed without mercy under the guise of technicalities and lack of evidence. How do you get away with racial murder, murder with impunity? How?

Whoever set Al-Mustapha free must have forgotten what the Abacha regime looked like, with terror looming over the land and everyone wondering who was going to be killed next. Then, we have the mastermind walk free and celebrated in his home state. I believe in forgiveness and above all, grace but we also have laws which states that murderers must die, either behind bars through life imprisonment or plain old execution by whatever means.

Unfortunately, members of the public have no say in the matter except in America where the jury system is practiced so they simple sit and watch as justice is perverted while hoping they are never wronged but also plotting their revenge if ever that happens. And the government complains of jungle justice?

Sometimes, you’ve just to got to love the Middle Eastern countries with their strict but non-dictatorial laws. The human rights activists can shout all they want but we are sure that criminals won’t walk like lords on our streets. Personally, I believe that you lose the right to be called a human the moment you kill another human in cold blood except in self defence, of course.

One other thing, I am aware that punishing the murderer will not bring back the dead and neither will it guarantee comfort for the friends and relatives of the deceased but it will at least prove that the government is trying to leave no one behind. Unfortunately, while we are at it, we are refusing to pass safer gun laws and sentencing a thief to years behind bars for stealing 30,000 naira.

So we can say he who has life has hope but also remember that when the last hope if the common man has been tainted/compromised, then it means we have no hope and a hopeless is a desperate man.

————————-

Oluwapelumi Oyetimein is an ICT professional and project manager with close to a decade of experience. He is a co-founder of Entranic Solutions and a partner at both BentLab Limited and ProwEdge Limited. He tweets from @TheOluwapelumi and blogs at www.webtrendsng.com.

30 Days 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians from across the world to share their stories and experiences – creating a meeting point where our common humanity is explored.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

 

Comments (3)

  1. Sergeant Rogers was set free on health grounds and it was obvious that it was necessary, else he would have died in prison but the appeal court judge actually accused the lower court judge of being biased to get a conviction.

  2. 14 years in kirikiri is okay for an army who obey is master to commit murder, meanwhy he was not the one who shut the late woman, he also gave order to ‘Sergent Rojer’ who carried out the operations and has since been set free in 2005. So let us commit them to the hand of God. Since u also accept the fact that punishing them does not bring back the dead, but bro, leave them to God.

    1. Sergeant Rogers was set free on health grounds and it was obvious that it was necessary, else he would have died in prison but the appeal court judge actually accused the lower court judge of being biased to get a conviction.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail