13. Lightseekers by Femi Kayode

You’ve seen it before. You may have even stood in the crowd.A phone disappears. A bag is ripped away. A wallet is gone. This time, the thief doesn’t escape. He’s caught. Surrounded. Nowhere to run.Anger spreads fast. Not just for this moment, but for every loss before it. Every theft that went unanswered. Every crime that went unpunished. Faces harden. Voices rise.Maybe this is the one who stole your phone last year. Maybe he’s the one who ran off with your friend’s handbag. In the crowd’s mind, it no longer matters.The police won’t help. They never do. A bribe changes hands. Another criminal walks free. Justice feels distant. Fragile.Then someone throws the first punch.And something shifts. What follows isn’t reason. It’s release. Years of frustration poured into a single body. Blows turn into kicks. Shouts turn into screams. The crowd becomes judge, jury and executioner.At what point do you stop seeing a person and start seeing a symbol? At what moment does justice turn into murder?Join Dr. Phillip Taiwo, an investigative psychologist, as he unravels how an entire town descended into violence; beating, torturing, and burning to death three students accused of being thieves.