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President
Muhammadu Buhari (middle) with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Primate of
Anglican Communion, Most Revd. Nicolas Okoh (4th left); and others praying
after a meeting with the President at the State House in Abuja... on Friday.
Photo: State House
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The Northern chapter of
the Christian Association of Nigeria has condemned the killing of a 74-year old
Igbo market woman, Mrs Bridget Agbahime, accused of blaspheming Prophet
Mohammed by irate mobs in Kano State.
The
Punch report continues:
The
body noted that the killing of Christians using flimsy excuses was
unacceptable.
The
Northern CAN warned that such act, which it described as barbaric must
henceforth stop.
They
urged the Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje and Emir of Kano, Lamido
Sanusi to call their people to order.
The
Christian body wondered why such gruesome and barbaric incident always feature
in Kano, a foremost commercial city in the country.
“Why
must it always be Kano State. This is not telling good of the state known to be
a commercial city,” the Public Relations Officer of Northern CAN,
Reverend John Hayab, told newsmen in Kaduna on Saturday in reaction to the
incident.
Hayab
noted that information made available to the group indicated that the late Mrs
Agbahime was deliberately killed.
Besides,
he said, the late woman was over 70 years and not 45 as widely reported,
wondering how children of the deceased would forever live with such barbaric
act meted out to their mother.
The
CAN spokesman, therefore, called on the state government to, apart from
arresting the key suspect, fish out other perpetrators and prosecute them in
accordance with the law of the country.
The
religious body also called on Islamic leaders to teach their followers on how
to tolerate other faith, noting that on their parts, Christian leaders had
always taught their followers on the need to respect other religion.
The
Northern CAN, also called on the police to at all times, carry out their constitutional
role of safeguarding the lives and properties of Nigerians without fear or
favour.
The
CAN’s spokesman said: “We got it on good authority that the slain woman never
blasphemed the Prophet Mohammed. That the mastermind of the killing, was fond
of always provoking the deceased and so, on that fateful day, we learnt, the
said man was doing ablution in front of the woman’s shop and was cautioned.
That was all. The man raised the alarm that she blasphemed Prophet Mohammed.”
The
cleric added: “The man deliberately provoke the woman in question just to carry
out that gruesome and barbaric acts.
“We
are saying the mere arrest of the key suspect of this barbaric act was not
enough. All those that perpetuated the killing of the innocent woman must be
fished out and brought to book.
“The
state government must go further than this and the Emir of Kano and all well- meaning
citizens of Kano must come out and condemned it. This is not telling good of
the area (Kano).
“We are committed to peace and stability of this country. We can’t understand why our people should killed on flimsy excuse(s).”
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