The Aluu Four

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of i ...

was a

necklace A necklace is an article of jewellery that is worn around the neck. Necklaces may have been one of the earliest types of adornment worn by humans. They often serve ceremonial, religious, magical, or funerary purposes and are also used as sy ...

that involved students of the Department of Geology in the

University of Port Harcourt The University of Port Harcourt is a public research university located in Aluu and Choba, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. It was established in 1975 as University College, Port Harcourt and was given university status in 1977. The Univ ...

. Their names were Ugonna Obuzor, Lloyd Toku, Chiadika Biringa, and Tekena Elkanah. They were all lynched after being accused of

theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

in Aluu, a community in Ikwerre local government area,

Rivers State Rivers is a states of Nigeria, state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Nigeria, Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo State, Im ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, on 5 October 2012.

Incident

Chiadika Biringa, Lloyd Toku Mike, Tekena Elkanah and Ugonna Obuzor were all friends, first sons of their parents, and students of

. The four students were also occasional roommates. Ugonna sometimes spent the night with Tekena who lived outside the

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

because his residence on campus was broken into multiple times. Ugonna had a debtor called Bright who owed him some undisclosed amount of money. Ugonna sought the help of his fellow rapper Lloyd, childhood friend Tekena and roommate Chiadika. Together they ventured to the house of the debtor around midnight carrying axe, pen knife, cutlass, and a gun in order to scare the debtor. Allegedly, a misunderstanding ensued and eventually turned into a fight. The debtor Bright started screaming, claiming that the men were there to steal laptops and mobile phones. A vigilante group from Aluu was alerted with the impression that the students were criminals disturbing the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

. Before the vigilantes arrived, a mob started chasing the four men through the streets with sticks and stones. The students were caught, stripped naked, beaten and tortured until they were close to unconscious. In the presence of a crowd of Nigerian police officers and other citizens, they were dragged through mud, had concrete slabs dropped on their heads and car tires filled with petrol wrapped around their necks ("

necklacing Necklacing is a method of extrajudicial summary execution and torture carried out by forcing a rubber tire drenched with gasoline around a victim's chest and arms, and setting it on fire. The term "necklace" originated in the 1980s in black t ...

") in order to set them ablaze. Nobody appeared able to stop this, including the Nigerian police force. A sister of Tekena discovered that her brother and his friends were about to be killed via "

jungle justice Jungle justice (also known as mob justice or street justice) is a form of extrajudicial punishment carried out by angry mobs or vigilante groups against individuals accused of crimes. The attacks involve the public humiliation, physical assault, or ...

." She tried to intervene by screaming and reiterating their innocence but was overpowered by the size of the mob. People told her to flee. In a last attempt, she contacted family members and the police but the men had been killed by the time the assistance was sought. The murder was filmed with a

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

and uploaded on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

Reactions

The 3–5-minute video showing them "necklaced" on the ground, beaten multiple times and finally set on fire, went

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

with most viewers condemning the crime. Condolences were sent to the families of the victims. The Senate condemned the members of the community that carried out self-proclaimed justice without trial in the presence of a crowd. Students of the University protested the murders and rioted, destroying properties in the community where the students had been lynched.

Aftermath

The lynching became widely known in Nigeria and the world. The crime further exposed the "

" or mob justice in Nigeria. Several people were arrested for the crime. On July 31, 2017, Rivers State High Court sentenced police sergeant Lucky Orji, David Chinasa Ogbada and Ikechukwu Louis Amadi (aka Kapoon) to death for their involvement in the murders of the four students. The court also acquitted four of the suspects in the trial, Saviour Johnny, Abiodun Yusuf, Joshua Ekpe and Cyril Abang. A film titled " Dark October" based on the lynching was which explains how the event (the lynching) unfolded, was released on Netflix on 4 February 2023. It was directed by Toka Mcbaror and produced by Linda Ikeji. A fictionalized version of the lynching was the basis of the plot in the 2021 novel Lightseekers by Femi Kayode, in which three young students are brutally murdered in a Nigerian university town.

Aluu Community

Aluu is located in the Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State. Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt is approximately 19 km / 12 mi away from Aluu (as the crow flies). The distance from Aluu to Nigeria's capital, 'Abuja' is approximately 461 km / 286 mi (as the crow flies).

References

{{reflist 21st-century mass murder in Nigeria Mass murder in 2012 2010s in Rivers State Violence in Rivers State 2012 murders in Nigeria October 2012 in Nigeria October 2012 crimes in Africa Filmed killings Lynching deaths Murdered students Extrajudicial killings in Africa