Re: Has self defense become a crime?

Quote from: entertheabyss on July 17, 2025, 06:54:28 AM

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.

This is a very important topic and it really needed to be talked about. The Benue killing is something to be condemned by any right thinking person. Self defense is never a crime, but in this part of the world where the law can be bent, you can be sentenced for it, because our judiciary has really failed us.
No one has the right to kill anyone, not even the herdsmen, but we really need to ask ourselves this questions, who really own this cows? How do they get this sophisticated weapon? The answer to this questions will make you understand why they think they have the right to kill and even get away with it .