By Habibullah Temako
In recent years, mob attacks have become one of the most urgent challenges facing Nigeria’s justice system. In many cases, individuals are beaten, burned and killed by angry crowds based on nothing more than suspicion or an accusation. There is no trial, no evidence, and often no opportunity to defend themselves.
The people most at risk are the most vulnerable. Young people are frequently targeted over accusations of theft and burglary. Women, including traders and elderly women, are labeled as witches and attacked. People living with mental illness are also frequently misunderstood in public spaces, and that fear turns into violence.
Time and again, we have seen how the tragic incident keeps resurfacing online. Every few weeks, new videos of lynchings circulate on social media. On July 28th, 2026, a student from University of Jos was beaten to death over an alleged iPhone theft. Likewise on June 16th, 2026, a woman in Port Harcourt narrowly escaped being lynch after a mob attacked her over a false allegation of child theft. In both cases, the crowd filmed, shouted, and justified the attack with the same refrain: “Police will only release him or her.”
The deeper tragedy is not just the brutality or the nature of the violence itself but how routine it has become. For over the years, communities believe the formal justice system has failed them, thereby treating suspicion as guilt with punishment being carried out in the streets. That, however, raises serious concern, particularly on the individual right to life as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
With incidents keep rising to an escalating degree, this is compounded by weak legal institutions. For instance, between January 2012 to August 2023, Amnesty International Nigeria recorded at least 555 victims of mob violence from 363 documented incidents across Nigeria. Over the period of this investigation, 57 people were killed by violent mobs; 32 were burnt alive, 2 persons were buried alive, while 23 people were tortured to death.
Amnesty International’s research details cases of victims of mob violence that include at least 13 women, six children, and two people with actual or perceived mental health illnesses and/or psycho-social or intellectual disabilities. Cases of mob violence were documented in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
According to the report, in the southern parts of Nigeria, mob violence is mostly targeted at those accused of theft, of taking part in rituals or practising witchcraft. In northern Nigeria, it is mostly used against those accused of blasphemy and often endorsed by religious clerics.
It also added that those with mental health conditions and psycho-social disabilities are consistently targeted by violent mobs that use their disabilities to make false accusations against victims and to justify lynching them.
Despite the scale of this problem, mob attacks have become prevalent in many communities today because people have concluded that due process to get justice is a luxury they cannot longer afford. And that conclusion, however troublingly dangerous, did not stem out of nowhere.
The vacuum of trust in our justice system created it. The law promises “innocent until proven guilty.” On the street, “suspect” and “criminal” have come to mean the same thing.
Cases drag for years. Bail is expensive. Police stations are under-resourced. When someone is arrested, families often hear nothing for months. When victims report, they are sometimes told to “settle” or even fund the investigation themselves.
In that vacuum, people choose what feels immediate. If the state cannot guarantee safety or deliver justice this week, they will deliver it today with their own hands. It is flawed, but it feels faster.
Furthermore, people consider that mob justice offers what the due process of law cannot, which is speed. A thief caught in a market is dealt with before he can strike again tomorrow. An alleged kidnapper is “finished” before he can be bailed out.
Meanwhile, communities are not endorsing cruelty because they enjoy it. They are trading the rule of law for the certainty of outcome. The problem is that certainty is an illusion. Mobs do not investigate. They do not weigh evidence. They react to rumor, to anger, to the last crime that went unpunished. Innocent people have died because they “looked suspicious.”
When we call everyone caught a “criminal,” we skip the most important word in law: “alleged.”
While distrust in the justice system, misinformation, frustration and slow legal processes, often fueled these acts, almost no one who carries them out with impunity is ever arrested or prosecuted. They often get away with it. This is exactly why extrajudicial killings can never be justified. Because in every circumstance everyone deserves due process and a fair hearing.
But there’s a way out.
One of the most effective ways to curtail mob attacks in Nigeria is to restore trust in the institutions that are meant to protect life and deliver justice. For instance, when people believe that the police will arrive quickly, that investigations will be thorough, and that suspects will actually face prosecution, the perceived need to take the law into their own hands will cease. That means investing in rapid response units in high-risk markets and motor parks, equipping them with functional communication tools and vehicles, and tying their performance to clear looks like response time and case closure.
It also means reforming the judicial process so that cases of theft, assault, or blasphemy allegations do not linger for years. Similarly, community policing boards made up of local leaders, youth representatives, and security officers can serve as the bridge, receiving early warnings about tensions and helping de-escalate rumors before they turn violent. When justice is seen to be swift and impartial, the mob loses its moral justification.
There should also be an intensive public education with the drives to dismantle rumors and misinformation which usually ignite these attacks.
Most mob incidents start with a shout in a crowded place, a WhatsApp message, or an accusation that spreads faster than facts can catch up. Radio, town criers, religious leaders, and influencers must be mobilized to run continuous campaigns that teach two things: how to verify information before acting, and what the legal consequences are for jungle justice.
Also, I equally believe that our institutions should include civic education modules that explain due process and the danger of collective violence, because many of those in the crowd are young people who have never been taught another way to respond to perceived wrongdoing other than violence.
Overall, we also have to address the underlying conditions of poverty, unemployment, and weak local governance that make communities aggressive in the first place. Mob violence thrives where people feel abandoned by the state and where frustration has compounded to explosive anger.
Creating real economic opportunities through vocational training, market infrastructure, and youth employment programs reduces the idle time and desperation that crowds feed on.
A more pragmatic approach is to trigger government intervention which equally needs to be more present and accountable, with functional conflict resolution mechanisms in every LGA so that disputes over land, debt, or personal conduct can be settled before they boil over.
Likewise our traditional rulers, religious leaders, and civil society must publicly and consistently condemn mob attacks from the pulpit, the palace, and community meetings, making it clear that such acts bring shame, not honor, to the community. When people have livelihoods, have channels to seek redress, and hear a united voice rejecting violence, the environment that produces mob attacks begins to shrink.
