'Why Impunity Grows' By Adesina Ogunlana

I may be wrong but I think Nigeria must one of the best places to commit any manner of crime. And it is not just because it may be relatively easy to give the law a dirty and open slap on the face or to escape detection.

I've come to my conclusion because of the actual very low chances of a criminal getting punished and adequately so, in the rather unlikely event of apprehension.

This is what I mean. The mere fact that a criminal is apprehended, even with unassailable proof of his culpability does not mean that the wrath of the law will fall on him. Rather any or a combination of the following possibilities will take place.

1. Victims of the crime and any other complainant will be put under intense emotional pressure not to press charges against the malefactor.

2. Where a report is made, the police or any other investigating body will wittingly or unwittingly bungle the investigation.

3. Where the police arraigns the criminal suspect before a court of law, the suspect will compromise either the prosecution witnesses or the trial judex or both.

This first possibility accounts for the large percentage of unprosecuted, unchastisised and ultimately, un-reformed miscreants.

When the first possibility is at play, all manners of people including the long-departed ancestors of the criminal suspect are procured to plead with the victim not to intimate the relevant agencies of the state of the illegality of the criminal suspect.

And, the ‘bigger’ the status of the offender, the heavier the pressure on the unfortunate victim(s).
Friends, relatives, work-mates, former school mates, neighbours, townmates, faith-mates of the malefactor, all will descend on the hapless victim(s), begging, pleading, exhorting, counseling, importuning and praying the victim(s) not to take action against the, malefactor. From this diverse tribes of pleaders you will hear statements such as:

“The devil pushed him to it, please forgive him. It is the devil!”
“I can tell you he has learnt his lessons, he will never again do such a thing”
“To err is human, but to forgive is divine”
“What do you want to gain by sending this man to prison?”
“If you report him (to the police) he is sure to go to jail. Consider what will happen to his pregnant wife five kids and aged parents?
“If you hand him over to the police, it will appear like vengeance. But vengeance is of the Lord. Let him go and let the Lord deal with him”
“I am not saying you should not hand him to the police. But don’t forget that you are a Christian and as such must be merciful”.
“Why do I say you should not report him? Don’t you know people will ascribe his destruction and downfall to you. You shouldn’t be responsible for that kind of a thing”
“Remember he is a Yoruba man like you. Igbos and Hausas always protect their own, so why must we destroy our own man?

For most victims, the pressure works and a potential jail bird, goes scot-free or at the worst gets off with a mere slap on the wrist. Of course, as we all know, in such situations, lightening will strike again. And again. And again with the society getting worse and worse.