Post
Topic
Board Politics and society (Naija)
Topic OP
Has self defense become a crime?
by
entertheabyss
on 17/07/2025, 06:54:28 UTC
When I saw clips of the massive killings in Benue State by the Fulani herdsmen, I quickly had a flashback on a case involving a farmer called Jackson Sunday and a herdsman in Anambra State in 2015. Jackson Sunday in a bid to defend himself against a herdsman killed the herdsman in order to escape from the herdsman attack but recently on March 7th, 2025 he was sentence to death by hanging on the ground that he would have fled instead of trying to defend himself. This is a wrong judgement and a redicule to our judicial system. This judgement have raised contention in the legal and none legal environment.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/2025/06/03/justice-denied-supreme-courts-judgement-in-sunday-jacksons-self-defence-case-part-3/

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/784603-sunday-jackson-a-victim-of-a-miscarriage-of-justice-by-chidi-anselm-odinkalu.html

Now, I begin to question our laws and ask certain questions:

- Should we continue to run when our lives are threatened and properties been vandalized?

- Is self-defense now a crime in Nigeria?

- Is a victim now an offender?

- Does herdsmen have the right to kill?

- What would have been the fate of Benue State if the reverse was the case?

I need opinions on the questions raised.