The lynching of a young girl named Deborah Samuel Yakubu in Shehu Shagari College of Education Sokoto last week by a group of irate youths and extremists on the allegation of blasphemy against the holy Prophet Mohammed is as condemnable as it is reprehensible. That a young innocent girl died a horrible death the way she did, in the hands of her alleged colleagues and school mates in her school, voicing out her opinion on her belief smacks of religious intolerance and extremism; something that is unknown in civilised environment. And as expected, most well-meaning and respected Nigerians, chief among them former Vice President Alhaji Dr Atiku Abubakar (GCON), the Wazirin of Adamawa condemned the gruesome act in strong terms. But shortly after, some misguided fundamentalists started their noise and sensing trouble and in order not to instigate further crisis, the Wazirin cautiously deleted his statement on the social media. This act of discretion to me portrays Atiku as a man who is sensitive to his environment as later events would indicate. Deleting his earlier post does not in any way imply that he supported the killing of the young girl or that he retracted his earlier statement condemning the heinous act. He was the very first to condemn the killing as was characteristic of him to speak up on national issues. You will recall that Atiku is courageous enough to tell truth to power unlike some of our spineless politicians who pay lip-service to national issues.
Unfortunately, rather than see what he did as a damage control measure to avert further crisis, his traducers want to use it to score cheap political point. And I dare to ask: where is the vice-president who is a Christian and a pastor? What did he say? Where were the southern politicians flipping their mouth through their hirelings? Why are they afraid to speak on the issue? Rather than keep quiet or praise one who is courageous enough to speak up, they are making spurious allegations.
Without mincing words, Atiku Abubakar is one politician in Nigeria that has always taken principled stand on issues of national relevance without fear or favour. In the 90s against the wish of the North his primary constituency he fought for the revalidation of June 12, election result and had to be exiled after surviving assassination attempt on his life. At present, he is the only credible politician in the North that is advocating the restructuring of the nation. And when APC government which he helped to install reneged on its promises to the nation, he criticised them and when they refused to budge, he left the party. When he was the vice-president to Olusegun Obasanjo, he risked his life and political future to oppose the latter’s self-succession agenda. What more can I say? Atiku has never been afraid to speak truth to power.
The riot that ensued when the alleged culprits were arrested shows that the Wazirin was right in deleting his earlier posts. Atiku should be commended for condemning evil and for being proactive enough to pull out his post to evade crisis. If he hadn’t done what he did, I know the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would have accused him of instigating crisis in the polity. These broods of fanatics are clearly misrepresenting Islam which is a religion of peace. They are a disgrace to the North. They are the creation of unscrupulous politicians who do not want the North to see the light of development and economic progress.
As an activist, one who advocates the vulnerable people in our midst, I condemn this act of barbarism and religious intolerance. The innocent girl was naïve and obviously insensitive to the religious belief of the environment she found herself. I can imagine the anguish her parents and siblings go through as a result of her death. The government should do something about religious intolerance. Religious clerics should be cautious in their utterances. Our politicians should desist from instigating crisis using religion as a tool. As a Muslim, I know there is no place in the Koran where you are asked to kill for the holy prophet or for Allah. Religious fanaticism is the bane of development in the Northern Nigeria. Only the likes of Atiku can tackle this by enlightenment, empowerment and job creation.
Nigeria is a multi-cultural country just like USA, Britain and India. We should advocate harmonious co-existence in order to harness the gains of our diversity like other nations. This is what I think broad minded leaders like Atiku Abubakar, the bridge-builder, can give the country when he is sworn in as president in 2023. Atiku Abubakar knows the country very well and can unify the country. A man of his stature and greatness is what Nigeria needs in these troubled times to survive the misery and uncertainty that the APC regime has bequeathed on us.
Our justice system and our security system are bastardised. If really she had committed blasphemy why can’t she be arrested and arraigned for trial? This is one of the fallouts of APC’s inept leadership. Under APC there is reign of impunity as people take laws into their hands. It is a sign of failed government – jungle justice, banditry, unknown gunmen, hooliganism, cultism…
APC has failed the nation. Therefore, there is urgent need to vote them out. Nigeria should vote PDP and Atiku Abubakar to rescue the country from the brink; to restore peace and harmonious co-existence in the land.
Hajia Mohammed, actress, social activist, politician, writes from London, UK via
