ASSESSMENT ON VIGILANTISM AND CRIME CONTROL IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: Any society that wishes to thrive must fulfill the social pre-requisite of providing appropriate protection for its members. Every society takes the necessary precautions to safeguard the lives of its citizens and the property they own while they are inside its borders. Without sufficient protection, normal business and social activities might not be able to continue unhindered. This essential aspect of safety may be the reason why societies from the beginning of time have taken attempts to police their communities in order to protect their citizens from becoming victims of crime. The act of preventing and safeguarding particular facilities, equipment, individuals, or activities from being damaged, stolen, destroyed, murdered, or disrupted is what is meant by the term "security." Security is concerned with ensuring that certain things are protected from certain threats. According to Dambazau (2017), the history of crime control stretches back to the time when appointed magistrates, who were private citizens who did not receive payment for their services, were responsible for maintaining public order. After the fall of the Roman Empire and the following disorder that followed, kings started taking on the responsibility for judicial administration by bolstering the night watch. This was done so as a result of the Roman Empire's collapse. Roberg and Kuykendall (1993) cited in Haysom (2016) also mentioned that in the twelfth century in England, through the Frankpledge system, which was based on an organization of tithings (ten families) and hundreds (ten tithings), men over the age of fifteen formed a posse comitatus, which was a group called out to pursue fleeing felons. Roberg and Kuykendall (1993) also mentioned that in the thirteenth century Therefore, the responsibility for maintaining law and order across the nation fell on the shoulders of the sheriffs who oversaw the operation of the Frankpledge system. However, as civilizations got more complicated, the fabric of everyday social life began to fray. The pre-existing structures of law enforcement were incapable of providing an appropriate response to the issues brought about by these shifts. As a direct consequence of this, the night watch system was implemented. Within this system, bellmen were responsible for patrolling the city while also providing policing services by walking about and striking bells. After some time, untrained people took over the role of the bellmen, and much later, hired constables took over from them. However, in 1829, Sir Robert Peel founded the first modern uniformed police force, which he named the Metropolitan Police of London. The Metropolitan Police of London's principal objective was to prevent crime (Roberg and Kuykendall, 1993).

The practice of vigilantism is not something that emerged recently. Before the year 1900, a great number of watchtower societies emerged in the border regions of the United States. Concerned people in San Francisco created vigilante committees in 1851 and 1856, respectively, to bring law and order back into the city by the use of force. (Encyclopedia Americana, volume 24, page 204; World Book Encyclopedia, entry u-v20:318) In South Africa, vigilante conduct is usually rationalized as "filling a policing vacuum" because to the inefficiency, corruption, and collaboration with criminals that exists within the South African police force, as well as the practical failings that exist within the criminal justice system. The ineffectiveness of the police force poor Sierra Leone in the fight against crime has been cited as an explanation for vigilante operations in that country (Brownyn referenced in Dambazau 2017). During the time before colonial rule, vigilantism was practiced in Nigeria.

It is possible to draw some parallels between these groups, which were organized by local communities for their own security, and the more recently formed self-defense groups, despite the fact that there was no structure at that time that was equal to one that exists now. This was also the case in the Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State before the arrival of colonial administration, when vigilantism was used there as a method of controlling both social disorder and criminal activity. The proliferation of vigilante groups in contemporary Nigeria, particularly in the Udenu Local Government area of Enugu State, is a response to crimes and criminality that have not only increased in degree, scope, and volume, but also have witnessed an unprecedented change in techniques, mode of operation, and sophistication between 1998 and 1999 (in the wake of the fourth republic), and the apparent failure of the Nigeria police to rise up to the occasion. According to Igbo (2017), "the apparent failure of Nigeria police to control the increasing wave of crime has led to unilateral public action against crime and criminals in some major cities of Nigeria, particularly in the South east of the country." This statement was made in reference to the fact that public demonstrations have taken place in the South east of the country. This is the case in the Udenu Local Government Area, which is experiencing an expanding crime wave despite the incapacity of the institutional agencies responsible for crime control to bring it under control. As a result, vigilante groups are being deployed as a method of crime control in this region. In light of this, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role that vigilante organizations play in the prevention and suppression of criminal activity in modern Nigeria, more specifically in the Udenu Local Government region of Enugu State.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In recent years, many communities in Nigeria have witnessed crimes of various descriptions. Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State is not an exception. Thus, crime is becoming a serious problem in contemporary Nigeria. The police who are the primary agent in the fight against crime are ineffective. Their ineffectiveness may be as a result of the fact that they are under- staffed, under-equipped, corrupt and lacked public cooperation. These have created problem of under policing in Nigeria including Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State. Thus, violent and property crimes are committed on daily basis without detection and prosecution. Many people are being dispossessed of their valuable property and others are killed or maimed for life by armed bandits. Hence, this situation of insecurity and lawlessness began to affect more than just the population of Udenu Local Government Area as traders from the neighbouring communities who come to Udenu to transact business in Obollo-Afor and Orie Orba, began to stay away from these towns out of fear. As a result, business and other social activities were paralyzed.

Thus vigilantism seems to be gaining more prominence as agent of crime control in Udenu Local Government Area. Several vigilante groups now operate in both rural and urban areas in Nigeria. Residents see vigilante groups as an outfit they can always rely on in terms of security. Put differently, the public is skeptical about the ability of Nigeria Police to provide adequate security services alone without the involvement of the public. This study, therefore, aimed at finding out the impact of vigilante groups on crime control in Udenu L.G.A of Enugu state.