For the last two weeks Nigerians have had the misfortune of being bombarded with the shocking news of the gruesome killing by suspected hoodlums of Miss Cynthia Osokogu, the twenty four year old post- graduate student of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi and the only daughter of a retired military General-Major General Frank Osokogu whose retirement house is in Jos, Plateau State.
The young girl was said to
have been lured by her alleged killers through the new social media from her
base in Keffi, Nasarawa state to Lagos State where she underwent grueling
sessions of physical assault and she suffered eventual death . Those who
brutally murdered the young student and upwardly mobile entrepreneur, were
reported to have met her through one of the social media chat rooms online
whereby they deceived her into believing that they are genuine importers of
foreign Fabrics and clothing and proposed a business meeting in Lagos.
Cynthia Osokogu just like
any young Nigerian that consistently meet new friends and business partners
online, decided to pay her new online friends a visit in Lagos since that was
where she always buys her materials for her fashion outlet in Keffi, but she
never returned alive.
The dastardly criminal act
of the gruesome murder by online friends of this young Nigerian girl has sent
shock waves across the country and a lot of people have also raised alarm of
the inherent danger posed by dangerous criminals who use the new social media
to lure their unsuspecting victim(s) to be dispossessed of their belongings and
in some cases sexually abused and gruesomely murdered as was the case with Miss
Cynthia.
The story of the murder of
Cynthia came to light about the same period that a national debate was ignited
by the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the danger and/or
criminal activities that some shady characters have deployed the new social
media as their platforms for committing different atrocities. But David Mark
who only spoke about the damaging circulation of false allegations and libelous
materials on the internet by these “faceless” internet hoodlums, never knew
that there are even more danger lurking around the new social media.
When David Mark called for moderation
and respect to ethical code of journalism in the use of new social media,
little did he know that even armed robbers and murderers have found solace in
the use of the new social media to lure their would-be victims as was the case
with this young Nigerian lady-Cynthia Osokogu.
When people criticized David
Mark for his alarm on the misuse of the new social media, this writer had
backed him and also called for respect for ethical codes.
I had written that on the
ethical question raised by David Mark, the Senate President on the abuse of the
social media by most untrained minds, I think his position is sound,
qualitative, objective and should therefore not be dismissed as canvassing for
tighter laws on use of social or new media in Nigeria similar to what obtains
in China and places like Iran or even Saudi Arabia.
The Senate President stated
thus; “The emergence of social media like face book, twitter, blackberry
messenger, YouTube have changed the face of media practice by making
information sharing easier, faster and quicker. But this is not without its
demerits. Social media has become a threat to the ethics of media practice and
good governance because of its accessibility and absolute freedom. Every
freedom carries a responsibility. Even in advanced democracies, where we all
agree that good governance is practiced, there is no absolute freedom.”
He spoke further; “I
therefore believe that there must be a measure to check the negative tendencies
of the social media in our country. I say this because media practice,
particularly journalism, process its news gathering and dissemination. It also
operates a feedback mechanism and where the practitioners err there is room for
rebuttal. But in the social media a faceless character can post any information
that is absolutely false and misleading but will never retract it. At the end
of the day one is bombarded with questions over what one has no business with.”
David Mark suggested a
simple solution thus; “I suggest that schools of mass communication and
journalism should review their curricula to include the operations of social
media.”
On the killing of Miss
Osokogu, the Nigerian police Force has announced the arrest of two suspects in
the murder: Mr. Nwabuzo Okumo and Ezekiel Odera. The police had at a parade of
the arrested suspects vowed to prosecute them over this despicable crime. The suspects
were said to have drugged and chained Cynthia before beating her to death at a
hotel named Casmillo Hotel, Lakeview, Estate, Phase 1, Amuwo Odofin Lagos. During the parade led by the Lagos State
police commissioner Mr. Umar Manko, last Wednesday, the suspects reportedly confessed
to have lured Cynthia Osokogu to her
early death on the new social media.
Some analysts have praised
what they called police decisive and effective arrest of these suspects only
one month after this sad incident. But I am not one of those analysts to be deceived
by this familiar method of crime fighting of the police which has not helped in
pinning down suspects to the various crimes and obtaining quality convictions
in the competent courts of law in compliance with section 6 of the Constitution
of Nigeria of 1999 (as amended).
Specifically, part II,
Article four of the police Act provides that; “The police shall be employed for
the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the
preservation of law and order, the protection of life and property and the enforcement
of all laws and regulations with which they are directly charged, and shall
perform such military duties within or without Nigeria as may be required by them
by, or under the authority, of this or any other Act”.
Nigeria Police Force has bad
record of always rushing to parade crime suspects but always fail to ensure that
good enough scientific/forensic body of evidence are generated, preserved and used
by the prosecutors in the competent courts of law to get convictions for
alleged crime suspects.
It is not enough to parade the
suspected killers of Miss. Cynthia but the police must be made to generate
unassailable body of evidence so that the real killers of this young innocent
Nigerian girl- Miss Cynthia Osokogu are punished severely for this evil they have
done to us all as decent Nigerians.
* Emmanuel Onwubiko,
Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com.
27/8/2012
No comments:
Post a Comment