Dazed by the murder of their daughter by Islamic fundamentalists in Sokoto last week, the parents of Deborah Garba have vowed never to send their remaining children to shool. Deborah, a Christian 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education Sokoto was gruesomely killed by some students of the institution who after flogging her terribly set her ablaze and left her to die in pain.
The pain of her untimely death has totally devastated the parents who said their remaining seven children will never be allowed to go to school. The deceased was the first of the eight children.
Their decision came on the heels of warning by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN to parents to stop sending their children to study in the northern part of the country.
The Sokoto state govrnment has shut down the school while Govrnor Aminu Tambuwal has ordered a curfew in the state in order to restore calm in the troubled state.
The state police command said it has also arrested some suspects in connection with the murder of Deborah, who was accused by her killers of blaspheming Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
But, this seemed not to have been enough to assuage the grieving mother of the deseased, Alheri Emmanuel who told the Punch, “ that my children will never go to school again”.
Her husband Emmanuel Garba, also lamented the pain the family has been through since their first daughter was killed. For instance, Garba who works as a menial worker with the state government said the family was left to bear the cost of the burial without any support from the government. He paid N100, 000 to transport the deseased corps to Niger state from Sokoto where she was killed, Garba said.
The parents, however, promise not to seek legal redress for their daughter, saying they have left her killers to God to judge.
According to Garba, “I have yet to get a call or message from anyone concerning the incident. Nobody called me; I decided to go on my own. I went to the state CID (Criminal Investigation Department) office and begged them to help me get the corpse so I could bury it because leaving it there might make it decompose. Then they took me to the mortuary, did some paperwork and released the remains to me.”
“I was the one who paid to transport the remains. I was charged N120,000 which I was forced to pay because that was the cheapest I got as the majority of people don’t like transporting corpses.
“We are not seeking redress in any court over the killing of our daughter. We are firm believers in Christ who always leave everything in the hands of God. No vengeance, nothing. Everything is left to our creator.
“We don’t want anything (from the government) but it is just unfortunate that we used all our resources to send her to school and now she is dead. She was my eldest child and I have seven others left.”
Meanwhile, the Northern chapter of CAN has urged parents to stop sending their wards to study in the Sokoto and other northern states known for religious volatility.
The umbrella body of Christians in the country said this is necessary until the federal and state government are ready to secure the lives of its children both in Sokoto and other states that had been hostile to Christians and Christianity.
A Nigerian Carrier, Azman Air, has denied Captain Jamil, an Airline Pilot, and son of a former Inspector General of Police, MD Mohammed, as its Pilot.
Jamil, an accomplished Commercial Airline Pilot is married to the last child of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
He sparked controversy in the wake of the gruesome murder of Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a 22-year old student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto.
Deborah was stoned to death and her body set ablaze, on May 12, 2022, by her school mates for, allegedly, committing blasphemy when she, allegedly, spoke in an unflattering manner about Holy Prophet Mohammed in a Class Whatsaap Platform.
Her murder sparked outrage and strong condemnation nationwide except from among Muslim fundamentalists many of whom took to Sokoto Streets in a violent protest, demanding the release of two persons already arrested by the Police in connection with the sickening murder.
But reacting to the murder in a tweet, Captain Jamil Abubakar was in support when he tweeted that in Islam, the punishment for blasphemy is death.
Jamil: “In Islam, we respect the Injil, Tara, Zabur. We were never taught to disrespect any of the books, or any of the Prophets from Adam to Muhammad SAW & the Quran.
“The punishment for blasphemy is DEATH!, in most religions, including Christianity. Respect people’s religion. It’s simple.
“In Islam, the Shariah Court handles these cases. Islam put rules and regulations to control people’s action and motives, so the wrong ones are not cheated and justice is served the right way.”
Jamil’s tweet attracted immediate outrage from many who said they would never fly Azman Airline again, dubbing Jamil a fundamentalist who could crash an aircraft because of Religion.
But in a swift reaction, Azman said Jamil had left their employ since 2019, and that it would not take responsibility for the actions or comments of an ex-staff.
In a tweet the Airline said: “PUBLIC NOTICE: Captain Jamil Abubakar is no longer a Pilot @AzmanAir. His last flight with us was 22nd December 2019.
“We refuse to take responsibility for a comment or view of a former Staff.
“The general public should kindly take note.”
Not a few people say that given the status of his father, his father-in-law, and his profession as an Airline Pilot, Captain Jamil was reckless in his comments.
If you have been wondering why President Muhammadu Buhari and Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi are close, wonder no more.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has quietly dropped a bomb by telling Nigerians why Amaechi is a main attraction for Buhari.
The Governor on Sunday, May 15, 2022, revealed how Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, in 2011, funded then Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress For Progressive Change, CPC, with Rivers State money.
In 2011, Amaechi was the Governor of Rivers State under the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
El-Rufai exposed this in Kaduna when Amaechi, a Presidential aspirant under the APC, went to Kaduna State to lobby delegates to vote for him at the Party’s Primary.
Presenting Amaechi to the delegates who surprised not a few Nigerians a few days earlier when they pledged their support for Presidential Aspirant, Bola Tinubu, given El Rufai’s closeness to Amaechi, he told them that Amaechi is a close friend of his, and a confidant of President Buhari.
He went on to tell them the genesis of Amaechi’s closeness to Buhari.
Rotimi Amaechi
According to El-Rufai’s story, it goes beyond 2014 when Amaechi ditched the PDP and joined the All Progressives Congress, APC, under which Buhari became President in 2015, after failing for three consecutive times.
El-Rufai told them that Amaechi won Buhari’s heart when, in 2011, Amaechi, as a PDP Rivers State Governor, funded the National Convention of General Buhari’s CPC.
What it means, political analysts say, is that Amaechi did not only engage in anti-party activities against his then Party, the PDP, he funded the CPC Convention with Rivers State money.
El-Rufai, had a couple of months ago, said he had no interest in contesting for the office of the President, but would consider it if Buhari asks him to pair up with Amaechi.
The hope of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro getting the All Progressives Congress, APC, ticket for the Lagos West Senatorial District may not come to reality.
Incumbent Senator representing the Senatorial District, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, has moved to Ogun State to represent Ogun West Senatorial District in the Upper Chamber of National Assembly in 2023, leaving the position open for aspirants to jostle for.
Obanikoro and former Lagos State Deputy Governor, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, who is presently Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, are the major contenders for the seat. The odds favour Orelope-Adefulire.
It was gathered that top Party Members in the State APC have drummed support for Orelope-Adefulire to be the Candidate to represent the Party, pointing out that Obanikoro’s Son, Ibrahim Babajide Obanikoro, is currently a Member of the House of Representatives at the National Assembly, representing Eti-Osa Federal Constituency and now his Father, Musiliu, is also running for the Senatorial Seat he once occupied in 2003-2007, which they claim doesn’t augur well in the political sphere of the State.
The Party Leaders backed the aspiration of Orelope-Adefulire to ensure gender balance in Lagos State, as the main contenders for Lagos Central and Lagos East senatorial districts are male, therefore, the party is rooting for a woman to occupy the Lagos West Senatorial District. A source said that was why they settled for the former deputy governor.
It would be recalled that since 2011, one of the three senatorial districts in Lagos State was represented by a female and the other two districts by a male.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the APC National Leader and Frontline Presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu representing Lagos Central Senatorial District is currently on her third term in the Red Chamber, but, is set to step aside for another person to run for the seat, while Lagos East was represented by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (2011 to 2019), with the Late Senator Bayo Oshinowo (2019 to 2020) and Tokunbo Abiru (2020 till date).
Lagos West was represented by Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon (2011 to 2015) and Senator Olamilekan Adeola (2015 till date).
Sources within the APC disclosed that aside gender balancing, the former Deputy Governor was also considered ahead of Obanikoro because of her root, experience and political network, which cut across many Local Governments in Lagos West Senatorial District, especially in Alimosho, where she is currently a political leader.
Though Senator Obanikoro, is also connected to the grassroots and a force to reckon with as an experienced politician, he is not being favoured for the position because of his son, Ibrahim, who is seeking re-election in Eti-Osa Federal Constituency. The ambition of the son seems to have affected his Senatorial ambition.
Political observers are of the opinion that the pendulum may swing to the side of Obanikoro and he could be given the ticket in the coming days, but all hands are on deck to see who APC cedes the Lagos West Senatorial ticket to.
After weeks of speculations, the Amaju Melvin Pinnick- led Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has resettled for Portuguese tactician, Jose Santos Peseiro, as the New Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Announcing the appointment of Peseiro as the new Head Coach of the Senior Men National Team, Super Eagles, the NFF said his appointment is with immediate effect, subject to the signing of agreed terms between the nation’s football body and the gaffer.
Ademola Olajire, Peseiro, NFF’s spokesperson, in a statement said:
“Peseiro is expected to lead out the Super Eagles for the first time during the upcoming tour of the United States of America, during which the three-time African champions will slug it out with Mexico and Ecuador ‘A’ Teams in prestige friendlies.
“The Eagles will tango with the El Tri at the AT & T Stadium in Dallas, State of Texas on Saturday, 28th May before flying to New Jersey to confront Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison on Thursday, 2nd June,” the statement read in part.
The NFF also announced that “former Nigeria international forward, Finidi George, will be 1st Assistant to Peseiro, with Salisu Yusuf now to be second Assistant as well as Head Coach of the CHAN and U23 National Teams.
“Usman Abdallah is the third Assistant while Eboboritse Uwejamomere will be the Match Analyst and another former Nigeria international, Ike Shorounmu will be the Goalkeepers’ Trainer.”
62-year-old Peseiro is a Portuguese who played as a striker in his days and has wide and varied experience coaching top Clubs and National Teams across four different continents, namely Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.
Born José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro to a Portuguese Family in Coruche, Santarém District. He was a former footballer, but Peseiro never played in higher than the Segunda Liga as a professional, starting out at Sport Lisboa e Cartaxo in 1979.
In that competition, he represented Amora FC, Clube Oriental de Lisboa, GD Samora Correia and S.C.U. Torreense, for a total of five seasons.
He, however, retired at the age of 34-years at the end of the 1993–94 season in the fourth division, with local club União de Santarém.
Peseiro spent his first eight years as a manager in the third and fourth tiers of Portuguese football, starting out as a player-coach at his last team.
In summer of 1999, he was appointed at C.D. Nacional, which he helped promote to the Primeira Liga in just three seasons. In 2002–03, he led the team to a final 11th position.
In 2003–04, Peseiro assisted Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid. At the end of the campaign, after the team lost a considerable advantage on the table to be finally surpassed by Valencia CF, FC Barcelona and Deportivo de La Coruña, the pair was sacked, and the latter returned to his assistant position in Manchester United.
Peseiro signed with Sporting CP for 2004–05. After collecting three losses and two draws in his first nine games in charge, the side eventually finished in third place with 61 points, four behind champions S.L. Benfica; additionally, he coached the team to a runner-up run in the UEFA Cup after disposing of the likes of Feyenoord, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United. The final was played at the Estádio José Alvalade, and after a 1–0 lead at half-time the hosts eventually succumbed to PFC CSKA Moscow 3–1.
At the start of the 2005–06 season, the Lions were ousted from the UEFA Champions League by Udinese Calcio, and after being relegated to the UEFA Cup they were immediately knocked out by Halmstads BK 4–4 on aggregate after a 2–3 home loss. On 16 October 2005, following a 0–1 home defeat to Académica de Coimbra that saw Sporting sink to the seventh position, he resigned.
Eastern Europe, Saudi Arabia
In the 2007 off-season, Peseiro was named manager of Panathinaikos FC. After failing to win the Super League Greece and also losing 0–4 to neighbouring Olympiacos F.C. in the domestic cup, he was forced to step down.
In June 2008, Peseiro signed a three-year contract with Romanian club FC Rapid București. On 2 October, after being eliminated from the UEFA Cup by VfL Wolfsburg, he was sacked only to be reinstated a few days later; he eventually resigned on 12 January 2009, after failing to agree on a new deal.
Peseiro succeeded Nasser Al-Johar at the helm of the Saudi Arabian national team in 2009, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. His first game occurred on 28 March, and it ended with a 2–1 away win over Iran which was the former’s first ever victory in that country and the latter’s first loss in nearly 40 home games; eventually, the nation failed to reach the finals in South Africa, and on 10 January 2011 he was relieved of his duties after losing the first game in the AFC Asian Cup against Syria.
On 3 June 2012, Peseiro was appointed at S.C. Braga. His first major signing was Portuguese international Rúben Micael, and he qualified the club to the group stage of the Champions League for the second time in its history, after ousting Udinese on penalties.
At the end of the campaign, in spite of winning the Taça da Liga and ranking fourth in the league, Braga and Peseiro reached an agreement to terminate the manager’s contract.
From 11 November 2013 to 11 January 2015, Peseiro worked with Al Wahda FC in the UAE Pro League. On 9 October of the latter year, Al Ahly SC announced his signing; upon hearing the news, fans of the latter protested against the decision based on his weak résumé.
On 18 January 2016, after cutting ties with the Egyptian side, Peseiro replaced Julen Lopetegui at FC Porto.
Even though the third position the team occupied at the time of the Spaniard’s dismissal was still secured, he collected more losses than his predecessor, and also lost the final of the Taça de Portugal to former team Braga, on penalties.
On 6 June 2016, Peseiro signed a two-year deal with precisely Braga. On 14 December, following consecutive home defeats that resulted in elimination from the Europa League and the Portuguese Cup, respectively at the hands of FC Shakhtar Donetsk (2–4) and S.C. Covilhã (1–2), he was fired.
Peseiro returned to the UAE in January 2017 with Sharjah FC, and was sacked nine months later after a poor start to the new season. The following February, he went home to sign a contract at Vitória S.C. until June 2019, which he rescinded by mutual agreement a year early.
In July 2018, Peseiro returned to Sporting after 13 years away, assuming the reins at a club that had lost several key players following fan violence and whose previous manager Siniša Mihajlović lasted nine days in the job. On 1 November, following poor overall performances and a 1–2 home loss against G.D. Estoril Praia for the group stage of the Taça da Liga, he was relieved of his duties.
Peseiro returned to national team duties on 4 February 2020, being appointed by Venezuela after the resignation of Rafael Dudamel. He made his debut on 9 October in a 3–0 loss away to Colombia in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification; the opponents were led by compatriot Carlos Queiroz.
At the 2021 Copa América in Brazil, Venezuela were eliminated from the group stage with two draws and two defeats; Peseiro was praised by pundit Tim Vickery for achieving those results despite a spate of COVID-19 infections and virus-related travel restrictions that kept key forward Salomón Rondón in China. He resigned in August, having not been paid for over a year amidst the South American country’s economic crisis.
“We must never confuse loyalty with slavery. This man yearned for that and put me through a mentally draining phase in my life that I had to step aside to reflect on my political choices. It’s unsurprising that all his political principals and lieutenants are deserting him and he risks becoming an island at the end of his stewardship”
The sudden dumping of a former House of Representatives Member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdulmumin Jibrin, took many people by surprise.
It was difficult to believe because Abdulmumin, aside from being a top member of the APC, was a devoted, chief campaigner for the Presidential ambition of APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu.
He was all over the print and electronic media defending Tinubu over one allegation or other. But suddenly, he abandoned all that, and quit the APC.
Speculations were rife as to why he dumped everything. Not a few people said he had a spat with Tinubu. Others said he decided to bail out early because he saw Tinubu’s ambition falling apart, especially, with the entrance into the race by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
But, in a statement on Saturday, May 14, 2022, Abdulmumin who a couple of days ago, joined the NNPP, a Party founded by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, revealed that his relationship with Tinubu remains very close. He said Tinubu’s political machines were so strong, so formidable, it is unbreakable. He said it would be difficult for any Presidential Aspirant to push Tinubu. For his sudden exit, Abdulmumin said he had apologised to Tinubu.
So, why did he leave then? The academic from Kano attributed his exit to what he described as his horrifying experience in the APC. He said he lost all in the party and, almost, lost his self-esteem. He heaped his horrific experience on the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, who he says suffers from inferiority complex. He accused him of treating his followers and associates like slaves in order to have a feeling of superiority and said it was why his political associates are now deserting him in droves. Ganduje, he said, has a sickening overbearing attitude.
Abdulmumin: “In my twenty-three years of postgraduate experience, the last seven years were my most unremarkable, so much that my long-established career almost reached a point of utter implosion.
“The horrifying disappointments of my past seven years revolved around this character who s determined to destroy anybody that activates his glaring inferiority complex. His sadistic instincts make him quite a frightening ally, so much that he feels the need to treat his allies as the marginalized black Africans in apartheid-era South Africans to feel a sense of superiority and misguided advantage.
“I dedicated everything to the political interests of this man, but he kept asking for more. This circus became too embarrassing that I had to take a step back for soul-searching to redeem myself. There’s a difference between service for the common good and a quest to be worshipped by one’s allies. We must never confuse loyalty with slavery.
“This man yearned for that and put me through a mentally draining phase in my life that I had to step aside to reflect on my political choices. It’s unsurprising that all his political principals and lieutenants are deserting him, and he risks becoming an island at the end of his stewardship.
“When he tried to lure me back a few days ago in a lengthy phone conversation, I asked him a question to stir up deep introspection on his demoralizing interpersonal relations. I asked if, as a father, he would want others to treat his children in the fashion he treats us his political allies and lieutenants. At the appropriate time, I intend to discuss the viciousness of this man in detail.
“However, my exit from the APC means I’ve ceased to be involved in the presidential campaign of Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The fact is, no individual can be a significant minus in Asiwaju’s campaign. The campaign is armor-built and designed to excel even without me. Based on the passion and dedication of the team invested in his aspiration, not even Asiwaju can stop his campaign let alone an Abdulmumin Jibrin.
“I want to appeal to the public to avoid overestimating my relevance to the team and stop the rumour and creating all sort of theories around this matter. I have my value but it will not take away anything from the menu I saw on the BAT campaign table.
“For the avoidance of doubt, let me clarify that I have no problem whatsoever with Asiwaju. We have never for once had issues. My problems were local and all politics are local. Asiwaju took a sincere interest in me and gave me the free hands to participate in his project, and my exit from the party doesn’t erase my respect for him and belief in his capacity and vision to redeem the fortunes of Nigeria.
“Asiwaju did his best to intervene to prevent my exit from the party. Not because it would affect his campaign in any way but for the genuine likeness he has for me. Unfortunately, wherever this man after my career function, I feel a sense of obligation to flee for my political safety.
“It’s one toxicity I’m no longer prepared to endure, and I do want to use this opportunity to apologize to the entire BAT family across the country for whatever embarrassment or inconvenience my sudden exit from the APC must’ve caused. I have already met Asiwaju to tender my apology, and he will continue to be a father to me and his house, my home.”
A member of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Dr Okechukwu Okoye, has been Kidnapped.
Honourable Okechukwu is from Governor Charles Soludo’s Aguata Local Government Area, and represents Aguata 11 State Constituency in the House of Assembly.
Details of the sad incident is not yet known, but a source told this medium that he was kidnapped “about an hour ago” in the State on Sunday, May 15, 2022.
Cordelia Ego Ejiofor died like no one should, clobbered to death by her employer. Her dead body was never found.
Around December 3, 1972, Alhaji Rauph Gaji, a senior lawyer in Kaduna beat Cordelia to death in his own house. He drove her remains to the outskirts of the city and disposed of it on a location along Kachia Road, where, months later, scanty human remains were located after Alhaji Rauph led Police to where he said he disposed of her body.
Mamman Nasir, like Alhaji Rauph, a Muslim, prosecuted the case to conclusion, securing a conviction for manslaughter, which the Supreme Court affirmed on Friday, May 23, 1975.
If this case happened today, Cordelia’s killer would never have been brought to account. Her scanty remains would not have drawn any attention. Cordelia’s killing would hardly have merited the attentions of the justice system and Mamman Nasir would have come under unbearable pressure not to prosecute a fellow Muslim for this killing.
For a country whose coat of arms has “Unity and Faith….” as its motto, this is some distance travelled.
In one of fate’s more unfair ironies, Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, the school named after a pioneering Nigerian teacher who rose to become president of the country and one of its most emollient public figures, could be fated to become etched in public imagination as the funeral pyre to Nigeria’s coat of arms.
It is the location where, in daylight, on May 12, 2022, a mob of male students set upon one of their colleagues, stoned her to death and burnt her remains.
Chidi Anselm Odinkalu
This school was the site of Deborah Yakubu’s public immolation.
Deborah’s life ended at the un-ripe age of 22. She did not die nor was she merely killed. Deborah suffered a fate reserved for savages in an age that exists largely in pre-civilisational apocrypha.
Nigeria’s leading newspaper, The Guardian, reports that “Deborah allegedly had argument with fellow students online and the Muslims among them claimed that she blasphemed….The interaction reportedly took place during the Muslim moon of Ramadan when the College was on break. When they sighted her at the school today, all available Muslim male students surrounded her and started stoning her. They continued until she fell. They made sure she died and subsequently set her body ablaze.”
Spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force in the state, Sanusi Abubakar, is reported to have claimed that “Students forcefully removed the victim from the security room where she was hidden by the school authorities, killed her and burnt the building.”
Explaining why the police failed to show up until it was way beyond too late, Mr. Abubakar added that the students ‘banded together with miscreants’ to block the road leading to the school. This would suggest that there was pre-meditation to this savagery. It fails as a plea of mitigation by the police.
Deborah was a 200 level student of Home Economics education at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, where she was also known as the Sisters’ Co-ordinator for the Fellowship of Christian Students. She came from Tugan Magajia in Rijau Local Government Area of Niger State in Nigeria’s North-central region and worshipped as a member of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), a leading Christian denomination in the region.
There were credible reports, not exactly denied at the time of writing, that “she had rejected the advances of a Muslim student, who later made the allegation.”
Deborah is the latest to suffer this gruesome fate in Nigeria. In three decades of such lynchings in Northern Nigeria, no one has been brought to account. There is no reason to believe that Deborah’s case will prove to be different. Indeed, the Police conveniently claim the leader of the mob that killed her is not of Nigeria nor within it.
About June 2, 2016, a mob lynched 74-year old Bridget Agbahime in front of her shop in Kofar Wambai Market in Kano, North-west Nigeria. She had reportedly asked a male Muslim adherent not to conduct his ablution in front of her shop, an otherwise sensible request even if only for health and sanitation reasons. That was her last earthly request. Affronted, the man accused her of blasphemy, summoned a mob and they clobbered her to death.
President Muhammadu Buhari issued a statement then describing Bridget’s lynching as “sad and regrettable”, promising that justice would be done. The Sultan of Sokoto and the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Nigeria equally did the same. The government of Kano State quickly announced the arrest and arraignment of five men in connection with Bridget’s lynching: Dauda Ahmed, Abdullahi Mustapha, Zubairu Abubakar, Abdullahi Abubakar and Musa Abdullahi.
A mere five months after Bridget’s murder, the Kano State Government itself withdrew the charges against the five suspects.
Like Bridget, this case died, never to be resurrected.
Forty-five days after the Bridget’s lynching, Eunice Elisha, a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God was hacked to death in Kubwa on the outskirts of Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital, after the leaders in a nearby Mosque had warned her to stop her open-air preaching. Her killers were never apprehended nor was anyone brought to account.
In August 1995, a young Christian trader from south-east Nigeria, Gideon Akaluka, was beheaded in Kano again on unverified allegations of blasphemy. Some high profile arrests followed but, as with the case of Bridget Agbahime more than two decades later, the suspects were never brought to account.
Moments after Deborah’s immolation, the Sultan of Sokoto, as he did in the case of Bridget Agbahime, promptly issued a statement describing it as “unfortunate”.
President Buhari followed the next day, saying “the news of the killing of the young lady by fellow students was a matter of concern.” It would have been much better if he had persisted in the eloquence of his complicit silence. If his words are to be believed, the President was not worried by the killing but by the news about it.
One reading of this unfortunate sentence, crafted with the benefit of more than 36 hours of contemplation, is that it would have been better if the perpetrators had just quietly wasted Deborah.
The President could not even pretend to find any sense of indignation in this affair. It was a mere matter of concern. Forgetting that he is the guarantor of human safety and security under Nigeria’s constitution, President Buhari merely “demanded an impartial, extensive probe into all that happened before and during the incident.”
Curiously, he directed this demand to no one in particular, probably because he does not think anyone should act on it.
In the same statement, however, the same President “also directed the Ministries of Information and Culture, Police Affairs and that of Communications and Digital Economy to work with GSM providers and Tech companies to help contain the spread of false and inflammatory information through social media.
”The man is consistent: his worry is not the killing but rather than the cameras captured it for social media. He lost his voice on the question of accountability but found it in time to direct social media censorship, even when social media had nothing to do with this immolation. Following the example of the president, other leading politicians around the country lost their voices and their moral compass.
Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, having issued a statement initially condemning Deborah’s tragic fate, proceeded to delete the statement from his social media handles before explaining that he did not have anything to do with the statements to begin with.
Self-acclaimed leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and one of its leading presidential aspirants, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, vanished.
Deborah Yakubu was killed exactly 10 days before the Practice Section on Public Interest and Development Law, SPIDEL, of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, was to hold a widely advertised conference in Sokoto, the site of Deborah’s last earthly moments.
The morning after her gruesome fate, while the smoke still smouldered from her funeral pyre, Monday Ubani, the Chairperson of SPIDEL, issued a statement denouncing those who called on him to re-consider holding the conference as scheduled as “without locus.”
Mr. Ubani’s statement is as gratuitous an insult to everyone as the line that the stoning to death of Deborah “is not a religious problem.”
If blasphemy is not about religion, can someone, anyone, please explain what it is about? Determined to give lie to this, on May 14, mobs set upon some Christian places of worship in Sokoto, forcing the state government to declare a curfew.
The issue clearly is not whether the stoning to death of Deborah Yakubu is a religious matter but whether the rulers of Nigeria both in and out of government have it in them to give Nigerians reason to have faith in the country. On the current evidence, there is only one answer.
A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at [email protected]
As the remains of the murdered Deborah Samuel, 200 level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto were committed to mother-earth, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, (CDHR), has flayed the gruesome killing.
A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Idris Afees Olayinka, CDHR condemned in its entirety the unlawful killing of Deborah on alleged blasphemy.
The human rights body described the killing as unlawful, cruel and barbaric, saying no one has the right to take the life of a fellow human being under the laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In its statement on Sunday, CDHR noted: “The killers of Deborah Samuel which in other publication called Deborah Yakubu are Students of a College of Education who killed a fellow student, not illiterate street misguided urchins.
“This senseless act shows the quality and standard of tertiary education in Nigeria.
“According to the police report, Deborah Samuel was accused of making a social media post which was found blasphemous about the holy prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
“The viral videos show men stoning and flogging a motionless body of Deborah draped in red attire.
“It’s hardly ever conceivable that the respective laws on blasphemy in the States where they apply can be justified in Nigeria in view of section10 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 which establishes Nigeria as a secular State.
“Besides Sub section 38 and 39 of the same Constitution guarantee the rights of Nigerians to religion and expression which rights cannot be arbitrarily abridged.
“It was learnt that few people have been arrested by the police authority in connection with the killing.
“The arrest has also led to violent demonstration by some section of society agitating for their release.
“CDHR frowns at the aftermaths of the violence, demonstration which culminated into destructions of properties, looting among others by the agitators to release the alleged killers of Deborah Samuel.
“The organization describes the demonstration as senseless and uncalled for.
“Remember On 22nd January, 2021, a teenager in Nigeria’s nothern city of Kano who was sentenced to 10 years’ jail for “blasphemy” by an Islamic court has had his sentence overturned by a appeal court.
“It is imperative to arraign blasphemous suspect before the court and not carrying out jungle justice.
“However, CDHR charges the police authority and relevant stakeholders to make arrests and bring all perpetrators to book.
“CDHR uses this medium to express our condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Deborah Samuel. We beseech Almighty God to comfort them all and give them fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
“CDHR will continue to monitor the events as it unfolds.”
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has been urged to save his name and career by quitting President Muhammadu Buhari’s Cabinet without further delay.
The opposition People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) also enjoined the Minister to save the country from international embarrassment by his refusal to resign his appointment from Government after openly declaring to run for the Governorship election in his home State, Yobe, and obtained his party’s nomination form.
This was contained in a statement from the office of the South West PDP and signed by Chief Sanya Atofarati.
The statement states “We thank many Nigerians who have raised their voices in defence of democracy by calling the APC-led administration under Buhari to follow the path of constitutionality and common sense by ordering his Ministers with political ambition to first tender their resignation letters before pursuing their political interests which was complied with by some of the affected Ministers.
“But the case of the number one law officer of the Nation who declared over the weekend that he has not resigned as the Attorney General of the Federation, but had only withdrawn from the Kebbi Governorship race was both pathetic and appalling.
“It shows the impunity and lawlessness in the APC orchestrated by an Attorney General who had, from day one, been plotting to circumvent the rule of law in order to preserve his unbridled ambition to be governor of Kebbi State until the presidential directive.
“Malami would have succeeded in eating his cake and having it, if he had not been called to order by the ordinary law of the land which he has been flouting with reckless abandon.
“The PDP, therefore, urges the embattled Minister to save the noble profession and the country from International embarrassment by resigning his position now as he’s not qualified to stay in that office the day he signified his interest to seek political office as a serving Minister of Justice and obtained a non-refundable form for N50m.
“His co -traveller, Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, had earlier resigned to pursue his 2023 presidential aspiration.
“But he suddenly withdrew the resignation letter in order to keep his job, a clear manifestation of executive recklessness by a Minister, who presided over a Ministry under which University lecturers were on strike for six months and the presiding officer found it convenient to abandon the aggrieved workers at the negotiation table to pursue his presidential aspiration.
“The PDP, therefore, aligns with the opinion expressed by Mr Femi Falana (SAN) that since the resignation of the former Ministers has taken effect, they cannot return to the cabinet either on their own volition or on the directive of the President.
“The resignation of the Ministers is not a cabinet reshuffle. It is akin to the removal of the former Ministers by the President, period.”
