I have heard several narratives how people suffered a horrendous fate of a remarkable dimension. In another development, some others were arrested or at worse jailed only for an offence they never committed. More often than none, many people have found themselves on a regrettable circumstance under the auspices of having a semblance of someone else. The degree of semblance expressed may or may not be verifiable. Unlike the developed world, several scientific methods are used to establish facts when investigation is being made. Unfortunately, the 'poor' are the most vulnerable ones suffering this fate in the less developed world of ours.

A particular incident happened in my school during my undergraduate days. A lady was said to have identified a suspect whom she claimed was one of the three guys who gang-rape her. She claimed that the identified guy has a resemblance of one of the rapist. The unfortunate part of the story was that the incident was reportedly took place in a very lonely road at about 8.05 pm on one fateful Friday night. Funny enough, a week later she claimed that it was luck on her side to have found the acclaimed person in the school premises. I would not go into the details of the story. Thanks to school management that swiftly intervened in the matter. The young man was released from the Cadet corps mini-cell where he was subjected to pain and torture in the name of interrogation. Reliably, the guy was found not guilty. He was released after several days of detention albeit without any compensation. Maybe only rhetoric of “sorry”.

Based on these rather unfortunate and heart-breaking stories, I already have a bias when someone walk up to me and say “you have a resemblance of a person I know”. That minute, series of questions would skip through my mind could it be for a good reason? Or a bad one. More so the antecedent of the character in question is unknown therefore it’s very important to be careful taking such compliments or better still gleefully dissociate from such conversation in an indifferent manner.

My thought is that; I haven’t seen a person who had meaningfully benefited or whose life got transformed for good in the name of having a semblance for someone he probably came across or living elsewhere rather than an aftermath of regrets and turmoil. I am not particularly referring to cases where people themselves draw out their semblance with maybe a celebrity or a legendary figure. However, my judgement might just be might be wrong based on the foregoing; this is because I already confessed to my bias. What are your thoughts or experiences?

I have seen about 2 people killed due to resemblance to some culprits.
I have also made a couple of useful fiends cos they think I look like some persons they know .

Thanx

Be careful

nursennenny:
I have seen about 2 people killed due to resemblance to some culprits.
I have also made a couple of useful fiends cos they think I look like some persons they know .

What a world! They were so unfortunate. let me say your own personal example is unusual. Oluwa is involved in your case.