MURDER: What it means.

To begin, let us try to establish what murder is. Murder is a criminal act which involves taking the life of another human being by another human being. In other words, murder is the act of putting a person to death intentionally and unlawfully- with malice aforethought, using lethal force, torture, excessive toil or hardship, poison or by strangulation. Anyone who is found guilty of murder is said to have murdered or committed murder, and therefore, tagged a murderer.

By law, a murderer, whether a first offender or not would get a prolonged jail term, life imprisonment, the death penalty or the verdict to hang depending on whether he/she is charged with first degree murder or second degree murder. First degree murder is when the offender committed the murder act intentionally and premeditatedly, while second degree murder is when the offender, through gross misconduct, or action or lie, contributes to the death of someone.

In our society today, cases of manslaughter, homicide and mass murder have become almost as common as armed robbery. Murder has claimed many victims already. Aside from being criminal and unlawful, murder is also violent and unacceptable. It is a crime that should be despised by people and fought against by the general public (society) and the government (the courts and the police). It is not just a crime against the institution of state, but also against mankind and God.

The knowledge that no man has the right to take the life of another man, intentionally, or otherwise is not lost. Everyone, young or old, has the right to life for as long as that natural life exists. There is no moral justification for murder, nor will there ever be. Catch a thief, burn or kill at the spot, and call it jungle justice, or for the thief to rob, and kill a fellow for what is rightfully the victim's or better still, play politics with people's lives and call it whatever you want, is the case in Nigeria. 

The origin of murder dates as far back to the days of Cain and Abel as the Bible tells us; Cain, out of jealousy, killed Abel, his brother. Though the act of murder has never been welcomed, it has persisted through the generation to the present day, the evil minded have made sure of this. It is not as though nothing has been or is being done to minimize the rate of murder from going high, but we cannot deny that incidence of murder will ever seize, what with weapons of mass destruction and genocide, and incidences of violent attacks on people, especially, helpless and defenceless ones making their presence felt. This later part is the handwork of men, resulting from hate, wickedness and evil. This goes a long way to show how far man is willing to register his disregard to life and the world as we know it.