The Network of Africa Christian Journalists NACJOURN, a body of African Christian Journalists from different parts of Africa has condemned in its totality the recent gruesome murder of Deborah Yakubu, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto in the northern part of Nigeria.
In its reaction to the killing over alleged blasphemy NACJOURN in a release signed by its President Bola Adewara and Secretary Dayo Emmanuel expressed worries over the kind of characters being developed by a supposed centre of learning in that part of the country.
Deborah Yakubu Samuel, a 200-level Home Economics student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, was on Thursday said to have made a comment in her school’s WhatsApp platform which her Muslim colleagues considered blasphemous and killed her before setting her corpse ablaze.
According to them that the killing, “coming in a tertiary institution, and at a time many Nigerians thought they were building a nation by doing away with illiteracy, suspicions, meaningless religious sentiments and activities that stand reason and enlightenment on their head” is worrisome..
They wrote, “The state of mind of many youths in Northern Nigeria, going by their comments on social media on this killing, are something to go by, is a source of worry to enlightened minds. Coming to think that these are the same youth we call leaders of tomorrow, we wonder if truly Nigeria has a tomorrow where everyone can live in peace, hold opinion and ventilate the same, without molestation and fear of being killed.
“This gives us a conviction that in some parts of Northern Nigeria, anyone is free to kill Christians at the slightest disagreement and will go scot-free. Christians in Nigeria cannot continue to stomach the barbarity of these Islamic fanatics holding the nation by the jugular.
“If Northern Nigeria is truly ready to transit from the Hobbesian state of nature to modern society, the time is now for the northern leaders, especially their governors, to revisit the state of mind of their youths, many of whom are still living 15th century in a 21st century, dragging Nigeria backwards in all fronts.”
NACJOURN also has its words for the entire Christian community on how to wade off such incidences in the future and how to relate with fanatical islamic elements especially in that part of the country.
“We advise Christians in Northern Nigeria to avoid religious discussions and arguments with people who are not of the same faith as them. They should be very careful in their associations with the bad eggs amongst the northern youths, those that have visible character traits of intolerance. This killing is too frequent and unacceptable. We want Christians to stay alive rather than become martyrs, to do the work Jesus gave us in Matthew 28.
Noting that nothing might be done beyond this mere rhetorical condemnation, the body of African journalists equally enjoined Muslim brothers and sisters in the southern part of Nigeria not to keep quiet on the dastardly act.
“We call on all Christian leaders and associations across Nigeria and Africa to note this latest killing and mark our fears that nothing will be done about it beyond the verbal condemnations by the authorities concerned. We enjoin our Muslim brothers and sisters in Southern Nigeria not to keep quiet about this killing. We want them to realise that keeping quiet in matters like this makes them complicit.
“The time is now for the southern Muslims to affect their northern counterparts with adequate information on the truth of Islam and how to practice it with enlightened minds. If Muslim leadership in southern Nigeria looks away from this heinous crime against humanity, it will send signals to the world that they endorse the killings of Christians at will.
“We also speak to Christian leaders in southern Nigeria to take another look at the plight of our Christian brothers and sisters in Northern Nigeria. The time is now to form a synergy that works with the Christian North. We have to demonstrate that their plight is our plight, and we will never treat them with aloofness in sadness and pain.”
They also expressed their condolences to the family of the murdered Deborah Yakubu, calling on the family to be consoled by the fact that Deborah passed on as a great soldier, unwavering in her commitments to Jesus.
“For the Christian soldier, it is appointed to us to die, and the manner of death is immaterial. Stephen was stoned. John the Baptist was beheaded. Isaiah was killed. The translator of the Bible to the English language, William tyndale was burned. James was killed. Eleven of the twelve disciples of Jesus, according to Bible historians, were killed in a gruesome manner, just like Lord Jesus Christ.
“Therefore, we encourage Deborah’s family to count it all joy that their ward was in a good league of soldiers and martyrs. What matters is she is with the Lord, having fought a good fight.”
They also have their words for the body of Christ at large, saying “We speak to all Christians in Nigeria that, while we received this news with pains in our hearts, let us heal quickly, knowing that we are on a battlefront, and in this type of war, this killing will not be the last. Let us all hold fast to the confession of our faith. Let us all be ready to do the work of evangelism and missions, to reach the violent zones of Nigeria with the good news that set men free.”
NACJOURN in their release also remarked that several incidences of this nature had happened in the past without any action taken by the government and concerned authorities noting the cases of “Gideon Akaluka, Christiana Oluwatosin Oluwasesin, Florence Chukwu, Abdallahi Umar, Methodus Chiamajie, Eunice Elisha Olawale, Bridget Agbahime, Tudun Wada and now, Deborah Yakubu in Sokoto, culprits have never been arrested; and when arrested, like we have been told in this new case, no prosecution is made, and no one is punished.”
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