The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has expressed displeasure at the gruesome killing of a female student, Deborah Samuel Yakubu, of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto State.
The forum stated that the attendant mass looting and violent protest at the weekend by youths demanding the release of suspects over the killing prognosticate grimmer days ahead.
The National President, MBF, Dr Pogu Bitrus lamented, “The outrageous murder of yet another citizen is one too many, considering previous records where people were killed on account of alleged blasphemy. Deborah’s murder last week over alleged blasphemy as contained in her voice note she posted on a Whatsapp platform portrays the growing intolerance of religious issues in the north.”
According to the statement, before what the forum called “last Thursday’s grisly murder”, a secondary school teacher in Gombe State, Mrs Christian Oluwatoyin Oluwasesin, on March 21, 2007, was killed by her own students over allegations that she blasphemed against Islam by desecrating the Qur’an, saying that in a fit of religious indignation, Mrs. Oluwasesin was gruesomely murdered in broad daylight.
It stated that over nine years later, on June 2, 2016, a Kano-based 74-year trader of kitchen utensils, Mrs Bridget Agbahime, was killed when she protested against a Muslim performing ablution in front of her shop.
It added, “In yet another fit of anger, the man instantly called on his fellow Muslims to administer instant mob justice on Mrs Agbahime for blasphemy. She was murdered without finding out if what she said amounted to blasphemy as alleged by her accusers who also judged and condemned her to be killed. Till date, the perpetrators are yet to be brought to justice.
Hope that justice may come her way someday has fizzled out as the suspects were released by the court unconditionally as requested by the Kano State Government for no reason. The husband of the late trader was later forced to relocate to his home state in the South for fear of being killed over his quest for justice for his murdered spouse.”
The forum noted that a month later, on July 9, 2016, an early morning preacher on the streets of Kubwa in Abuja, Mrs Eunice Elisha, was killed, stressing that attempts to bring her killers to book have not yielded any positive fruit.
It said that though not accused of any blasphemy, the silence of the state over the killing of citizens on account of their faith may have encouraged Mrs Elisha’s murderers to snuff life out of her.
The statement explained that the government’s inability or refusal to bring perpetrators to justice over previous killings of citizens is thus responsible for the bloodshed by religious mobs, saying that as a country governed by laws, there cannot be any justification for the killing without following due process.
It noted that even in Islamic nations, there are processes for determining what constitutes blasphemy, saying that when a mob simply puts to death someone they accuse of blasphemy; such an act amounts to criminality that has been encouraged by the state’s incapacity in bringing to book killers of people alleged to have committed blasphemy in the past.
To demonstrate the fact that those who are engaged in killing Nigerians on account of alleged blasphemy enjoy overwhelming support, the statement explained that youths at the weekend poured into the streets of Sokoto demanding the release of suspects detained by the police over the killing of Deborah.
It explained that churches came under attacks, with looting and destruction unleashed by these youths, adding that the Sokoto incident reveals the dour reality that our ability to remain united under a secular system is being tested.
The forum commended Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State for the swift move in imposing a 24-hour curfew on the city to avert further destruction and loss of lives and called on security forces to ensure that justice comes the way of Deborah whose barbaric killing has sent waves of crippling shocks throughout the world.
It noted that the manner this case is handled would signal if the government is indeed serious in tackling religion-related crises in the North threatening the corporate existence of the nation.
It suggested that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari must not equivocate on this matter that is leading to rising tension in the country and global outrage, saying that as the umbrella organisation for all ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt, the President must rise up and stop Nigeria’s journey to a religious crisis that has the potential of disintegration.
It stated that considering the activities of those who looted and wreaked violence on Sokoto in the guise of demanding the release of suspects, it is now clear that criminals were responsible for the death of Deborah.
