MOB JUSTICE AGAINST NIGERIAN POLICE PERSONNEL DURING THE ENDSARS PROTESTS IN IBADAN METROPOLIS

Abstract

This study investigates mob justice against Nigerian Police personnel during the EndSARS protests in Ibadan Metropolis, focusing on precipitating factors and implications for police service delivery. Anchored in Procedural Justice Theory, it conceptualises mob attacks on officers as manifestations of the deep-seated legitimacy deficits from long-standing police brutality, corruption, and weak accountability especially in the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Using exploratory qualitative design, data were generated through 25 in-depth interviews with protesters and witnesses, and 10 key informant interviews with police officers across two major police formations in Ibadan. Content analysis was employed to interpret participants' narratives. Findings reveal that mob justice was driven by structural and institutional factors including youth unemployment, economic hardship, poor governance frustration, persistent police misconduct, and eroded trust in the Nigerian Police Force and state. Accumulated grievances and impunity for abuses created moral justifications for violent retaliation. Mob attacks impaired service delivery by undermining morale, increasing officer fear and withdrawal, reducing visibility, and emboldening crime weakening routine policing, straining police–community relations, and compromising post-protest security. The findings show mob justice as both symptom and consequence of collapsed police legitimacy. The study underscores comprehensive police reform, credible accountability, and community-centred strategies to restore trust, prevent protest violence cycles, and strengthen urban law enforcement.

Keyword: EndSARS, Mob Justice, Nigerian Police Force, Police–Community Relations, Procedural Justice, Collective Violence, Protests