Nigeria, April 12 -- Not long ago, Nigerians awoke to the harrowing news of a brutal massacre in Uromi, Edo State, where sixteen able-bodied men, reportedly hunters of northern Nigerian origin, were violently killed. Preliminary reports suggest that their ethnic identity as Hausa-Fulani may have played a decisive role in their tragic fate. It appears the attackers, driven more by emotion than reason, allowed the victims' cultural and linguistic affinity with the criminal elements terrorizing the region to distort their moral judgment. In their misguided pursuit of justice, they tragically discarded the foundational principle that every individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The atrocity was met with widespread condemnation ...