Today in History: Thirteen Years Since the Aluu 4 Lynching in Rivers State

 On this day in 2012, four promising young students — Chiadika, Favour, Ugonna, and Mike — were brutally killed by a mob in Aluu community, sparking national outrage and calls for justice.

Exactly thirteen years ago, Nigeria woke up to one of its darkest and most horrifying mob justice tragedies — the Aluu Killings. On October 5, 2012, four young students of the University of Port Harcourt — Chiadika Biringa, Tekena Elkanah, Ugonna Obuzor, and Lloyd Michael — were falsely accused of theft, lynched, and set ablaze by residents of the Aluu community in Rivers State. The brutal incident, recorded on video and circulated online, shocked the nation and exposed deep social and institutional failures in Nigeria’s justice system.

The victims, all first sons of their families, were described by classmates as vibrant, intelligent, and full of potential. They had reportedly gone to Aluu to recover a debt owed to one of them before being mistaken for armed robbers. What followed was a chilling act of mob violence that drew condemnation from across the world, as many questioned how a community could participate in such a gruesome act without intervention from law enforcement.

In the years following the tragedy, several suspects — including members of the community and local vigilantes — were arrested and prosecuted. However, justice has been slow, and many Nigerians still believe that the system failed to fully account for every individual involved in the crime. Human rights advocates continue to cite the Aluu 4 case as a haunting reminder of the dangers of mob action, misinformation, and the erosion of trust in formal justice processes.

Thirteen years later, the memory of Chiadika, Favour, Ugonna, and Mike remains a painful scar on the nation’s conscience. Vigils, tributes, and online memorials continue to honor their lives, with many Nigerians calling for stronger laws and civic education to prevent such tragedies from ever happening again. Though gone, their story endures as a call for compassion, due process, and the sanctity of human life.