Lightseekers

Femi Kayode

2 ideas

1. The Okriki Three lynching investigation

   Three university students are beaten and burned to death by a mob in the Nigerian town of Okriki after being accused of theft, and the killing is filmed on phones and circulated online. The grieving father of one victim hires Philip Taiwo, a US-trained investigative psychologist, to find out not who struck the blows but why the crowd formed and acted. The town closes ranks against him. The case is modeled on the real 2012 Aluu Four lynching near Port Harcourt.

2. Investigate the why behind collective violence

   Conventional policing asks who did it and aims for a suspect and a confession, which fails when a whole crowd is guilty and every individual is diluted into it. Investigative psychology asks why this crowd, on this day, turned lethal. That question exposes the triggers, the instigators and the hidden motives that turned an accusation into a killing.

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