By 
Abiodun OBA
The Police have warned that Nigerians should desist from taking the laws into their hands by passing judgement on suspects on their own without recourse to due process.
Bauchi Commissioner of Police, Umar Sanda, gave the warning consequent on the recent setting ablaze of a suspected thief of a motorcycle at Chinade community in Katagum Local Government Area of the state.
A middle-aged man, whose identity had not been determined, was attacked by a mob that beat him to a pulp and later set him ablaze for alleged theft of a motorcycle on Sunday.
Sanda stated in a statement signed by the Spokesman of the command, SP Ahmed Wakili, made available to newsmen in Bauchi, described the mob action as a barbaric and dehumanizing act of jungle justice meted out on the suspect by some irate youths in Chinade.
CP Sanda ordered an immediate and thorough investigation into the act, adding that it was “barbaric and inimical to the law governing our country”.
“Instead of taking the suspect to the Police for proper investigation and prosecution, they mobbed the suspect for allegedly stealing a motorcycle without any recourse to the law.”
Sanda warned that the command, under his stewardship, would not allow some recalcitrant elements in the society to take the laws into their hands by killing suspects arrested for an alleged crime in such a dehumanising and unlawful manner.
He further warned that nobody had the right to treat a suspect in such a barbaric manner, stressing that it was wrong for anyone to assume the position of a law enforcement agency.
CP said that any suspect apprehended in connection with any crime should be immediately handed over to the Police or any law enforcement agencies for investigation and prosecution.
Sanda appealed to the public to be calm, as the Police Command was already mopping up those responsible for the gruesome act for possible prosecution.
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