Deborah Samuel: Northern leaders silent as religious fanatics kill Christian girl

Northern leaders have failed to lend their voice in condemnation of the murder of a Christian girl and student in Sokoto State, Deborah Samuel, by Muslim religious fanatics.

Deborah was killed and burnt alive by male Muslim students who accused her of insulting prophet Muhammed via a WhatsApp platform.

A video of the incident which immediately went viral on social media showed the youths owning up to the act while displaying the materials they used in killing her.

This led to outrage from Christians in the Southern part of Nigeria who condemned the killing and called for the perpetrators to be brought to book.

Former vice president Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, had taken to Twitter to condemn the action and called for justice to be served.

“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,” he tweeted.

This didn’t sit well with the Muslim North who stormed his social media pages to threaten him to apologise or he won’t get their support for his 2023 presidential ambition.

The tweet by Atiku was immediately deleted with a follow-up tweet disowning the previous one. According to the presidential hopeful, he never signed the tweet, therefore it wasn’t from him.

He wrote, “This evening I received information that a post was made that doesn’t agree with my orders. I use this to announce that any post without AA is not from me. May God protect – AA.”

Meanwhile, no official statement condemning the murder has been issued by the Governor of Sokoto State and presidential hopeful, Aminu Tambuwal, who only cancelled his engagements in Abuja to return to his state.

His spokesman, Mohammed Bello, said: “Gov. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto state cut short his engagements in Abuja, the nation’s capital following the killing of Miss Deborah Samuel, a student of the College of Education, Sokoto; and returned to Sokoto where he held a closed-door meeting with heads of security agencies in the state as well as the state Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Fr. Nuhu Iliya at the Government House.”

Not pleased by the silence of leaders, former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, slammed them, describing them as cowards.

He tweeted, “Any so-called leader that remains silent and refuses to publicly condemn the murder of Deborah is a COWARD. I don’t care who or what you are: if you cannot bring yourself to condemn this cold-blooded & horrific murder then you are nothing but a COWARD & I have contempt for you.”

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force has promised that justice will be done concerning the issue and that the perpetrators will be brought to book.