Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has urged Nigerian voters not to ignore the failure of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his Director General of Campaign, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state, to get justice for slain Deborah Yakubu seven months after her killing by suspected Muslim zealots over alleged blasphemy.
HURIWA National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a press statement, Tuesday, in Abuja, said the killing of Deborah, a 200-level Home Economics student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, in May would always remain in the subconscious of Nigerians of good conscience irrespective of their religious affiliation.
The group accused Atiku and Tambuwal of valuing politics and campaigns beyond getting justice for the slain student who was reportedly lynched by Islamic extremists in broad daylight on her school campus.
According to the rights group, “Nigerians will never forget how the Nigeria Police Force have so far played games with the case, arrested and released prime suspects in the heinous offence, and the case disappeared from the court, silenced by the muteness and complicity of the northern political class.”
They further took a swipe at the former vice president for defending his decision to delete his initial comment on the incident at the Channels Television Townhall programme, stating that it fell flat as the whole public
Atiku had said: “I asked the tweet to be deleted because I normally approve every tweet. So, since I didn’t approve it, I said, ‘delete it’. If you read my subsequent statements on that murder, I condemned it.
“There is nowhere it is said or it is an injunction in the Islamic faith that you can go and take somebody’s life, nowhere, it has to be through due process.”
Continuing the group called on the police to do the right thing by resuming the prosecution of the prime suspects in the matter, pointing out that, “The legal system must ensure stiff punishment for the culprits to send strong signals that Nigeria is not a Banana Republic where carnivorous entities showcase animalistic tendencies.
“…Finally, HURIWA will declare Deborah a martyr for human rights because her killing is unjustifiable under any laws locally and internationally. The memories of Deborah must be immortalised for remembrance.”
