Atiku wrote: “There can not be a justification for such gruesome murder. Deborah Yakubu was murdered, and all those behind her death must be brought to justice. My condolences to her family and friends.”
By Emma Ogbuehi
The negative role religion plays in the country’s politics and the hold of religious extremists manifested last night when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar quickly deleted a post he made on his social media handles – Facebook and Twitter – condemning the gruesome murder of Ms. Deborah Yakubu in Sokoto.
Deborah, a 200 level Home Economics student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was gruesomely murdered and her body set ablaze on Thursday by fellow students for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Mohammed.
The Muslim fanatics not only murdered her but also recorded the heinous act and posted same on the social media.
Many Nigerians, including the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, and the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who were outraged condemned the dastardly act and demanded that the culprits be brought to book.
Atiku Abubakar, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) added his voice to the condemnations.
Taking to his Twitter handle, Atiku wrote: “There can not be a justification for such gruesome murder. Deborah Yakubu was murdered, and all those behind her death must be brought to justice. My condolences to her family and friends.”
TheNiche reflected the presidential candidate’s outrage in a story titled, “Atiku, Kukah, Sultan demand arrest, prosecution of Sokoto killer mob,” which was published 11.32pm on Thursday.
Within minutes, the tweet had garnered thousands of reactions but many of the reactions were threats from Muslim fanatics of northern extraction who asked the former vice president to forget his presidential ambition for condemning the gruesome murder of the Shehu Shagari College of Education student.
Apparently, Atiku’s position didn’t go down well with the extremists as most of the commentators warned him to steer clear of the controversy or forget their votes.
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Supporting the gruesome murder, most of them wondered why Atiku, a Muslim, will condemn the killing of someone who allegedly insulted Prophet Mohammed.
Some wondered if he is indeed a true Muslim.
Shortly, an obviously frightened Atiku harkened to the call of the Islamic fundamentalists and pulled down the posts on both his Facebook and Twitter handles.
Subsequent check by TheNiche when the tweet which was embedded in the story could no longer open revealed that the presidential aspirant had deleted it.
Some commentators, mostly from the South, who spoke to TheNiche on Friday morning said they were disappointed that Atiku, who they see as a moderate Muslim could cave in to the threats of fanatics so easily.
But some others also noticed that he was the only presidential aspirant that commented and condemned the killing.
Mr. Anthony Musa from Kaduna State said: “It is okay to criticise Atiku for pulling down the tweet and those who are querying if he will have the courage to confront the menace of Muslim fanaticism if he becomes president probably have a point.
“But, I am also not aware that any other presidential aspirant had the courage to even comment on the sad incident. At least Atiku did. The truth is that they are all afraid of these religious extremists from the North and it will be unfair to single out Atiku for condemnation. At least he did something. What of the others who did nothing for fear of a backlash?”
