Journal of Development Communication And Applied Theatre

Since 2015 after the general election was conducted in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the kind of crime, terror, distress and general conditions of insecurity that have surged in the country has remained unimaginable in human history. Boko Haram ravaging the North Eastern and Western parts of the country, hybrid of kidnapping, armed robbery, ritual killings and cultism amongst other forms of nefarious crimes devastating other parts of the country. Human conditions have become vastly characterized with unexplainable anguish, fear and tension. Not even the presence of the state controlled security system in the country appears to have yielded an end to this ugly menace. There is trouble everywhere. Man seems helpless and hopeless. The need to rekindle hope through a restoration of peace and sanity in the land therefore becomes necessary. This study investigated the option of neighbourhood watch through vigilantism for solution. The study relied on Iloma N. Richard's theory of Vigilante sub-genre of action film to critically analyse two purposively sampled films: Ashes 1&11(Andy Amanechi 2001).A critical textual inspection of the selected film texts revealed the efficacy of Vigilantism in combating crime in Nigerian communities. This study therefore recommended amongst other things, the legitimization and empowerment of vigilantism in the security architecture of the country.

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