By Godwin Onyeacholem
Indeed, for
any keen observer of governance in post-colonial Africa, Nigeria must be a very
depressing address. And this is more so for the simple reason that no country,
in many people’s reckoning, has done so much as Nigeria in consistently
consciously making itself an object of perpetual ridicule in the comity of
civilized countries of the world.That explains why those who argue that Africa’s
backwardness is a function of Nigeria’s pathetic leadership vision cannot be
entirelywrong after all. Even Nigeria’sown citizens, who look up to their
country to provide the required domestic and internationalleadership, have continued
to be utterly disappointed and embarrassed in very many ways.
Take for
example the case of Bridget Agbahime. On June 2, the 74-year-old kitchen
utensils trader from Imo State was brutally attacked and killed at KofarWambai
Market in Kano by aMuslim mob who accused her of blasphemy.According to reports,
she was pounced upon and murdered after she refused to allow a Muslim
manperform ablution in front of her shop. As expected, the circumstances of
Bridget’s death sparked outrage within secular, Christian and progressive
Muslim circles across the country and beyond, provoking once again that
troubling question as to when these ignorant killings in the northern part of
the country in the name of Allah would come to an end.
On behalf
of President MuhammaduBuhari, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina,
promptly issued a statement describing the incident as “sad and regrettable.”
In the usual tone of such statements, it urged the people not to take the laws
into their hands and affirmed that justice would be done in the matter.
On his
part, Governor of Kano State,AbdullahiGanduje, also called a meeting attended
by prominent personalities including state chairman of Christian Association of
Nigeria(CAN), Rev. Ransome Bello, thehusband of the deceased, Pastor Mike
Agbahime, of Deeper Life Bible Church, Igbo leaders in Kano, Islamic scholars
and security agencies. At that meeting the governor named the prime suspect in
that heinous crime as one AlhajiDauda. He said the killing was “unjustifiable”
and that justice would be done in accordance with the provisions of the
Nigerian constitution.
The Police
corroborated the governor as regards Dauda.OlabisiOkuwobi, Assistant
Commissioner of Police who was then Force Public Relations Officer, issued a
statement saying two key suspects, Dauda Ahmed and ZubairuAbdullahi, were
already in custody and would be speedily prosecuted. AddedOkuwobi: “In order to
ensure a diligent and professional investigation the Inspector General of
Police has directed the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the
Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) to deploy the
Homicide Section of the Department to immediately take over the investigation
of the case and ensure a meticulous investigation and speedy prosecution of
arrested suspects.”
Apart fromDauda
and Zubair, the investigation led to the arrest of three more suspects namely
Abdulmumeen Mustafa, AbdullahiAbubakar and Musa Abdullahi. The five suspects
were charged at the Kano Magistrate court on a four-count allegation of
allegedly inciting disturbance, culpable homicide, joint act and mischief.
And five
months into the incident, more than enough time for Nigerians and the Agbahime
family to have arrived at a closure on that act of bestiality, what did the
people get? Just when they were bracing fora firm prosecution that will lead to
conviction, they were treated to the familiar abracadabra that is peculiar to
the country’s legal system. In what must go down as a classic judicial swindle,
the chief magistrate, Muhammad Jibril, acting on the advice of the Attorney
General of Kano State, discharged the suspects and terminated the case.
According
to the Kano State government, “There is no case to answer as all the suspects
are innocent.”Really? And this from a State whose governor had called the
killing “unjustifiable” and vowed to go all out to ensure that the culprits are
treated in line with the country’s laws? Where is the justice Buhari promised
in his reaction to Bridget Agbahime’s killing? What the Kano government did to
this case is not the kind of thing that should happen in a government that
professes “change.”
Surely now,
the widower,Mike Agbahime, and the entire Agbahime family must be heartbroken.
It would not be surprising to hear that the man has suddenly developed some serious
health problem, for this is the sort of perversion of justice that led to the
death of Justice AtinukeIge, whose husband, Bola Ige,was assassinated at theirBodija
residence in Ibadan in 2001. Sixteen months later, the woman died from a
heartbreak resulting from glaring manipulation of justice by state prosecutors
who deliberately messed up the trial of suspects arrested in connection with
her husband’s gruesome murder.
This is not
the first time blasphemy killings would occur in the northern part of the
country. In 1995, in the same Kano, a young Igbo trader, Gideon Akaluka, was
beheaded by Muslim fanatics who stormed the police station where he was being
held for alleged blasphemy. The head was hoisted on a stick and used as trophy
which the mob carried round the streets in a chilling victory parade.There was
neither arrest nor prosecution.
In 2007
Christiana Oluwasesin, teacher and mother of two, was beaten to death by her
own students at Government Day Secondary School, Gandu, Gombe State. The
sixteen suspects arrested in connection with the crime were released without
any charge. In addition to the Agbahime case, this year has also witnessed
blasphemy killings in TalataMafara in Zamfara State, and Padongari
in Rafi local government area of Niger State. In these two cases as in others,
not one person was arrested and made to face the law.
Suffice to
say that blasphemy killers in Nigeria, a secular, multi-ethnic and
multi-cultural country are never brought to justice. Yet without justice there
can never be peace. And the absence of peace means there is no unity. Agbahime’s
case happens to be the first time an attempt, no matter how idle and
unenthusiastic, has been made to arraign alleged perpetratorsof blasphemy
execution.
But against
all expectations, the case has decidedly been bungled by the government which
ought to protect citizens,messed up in a manner that powerfully vindicates
those who insist that Nigeria is not yet a nation, that much as the people desire
to live together as one, there is an urgent need for a roundtable meeting of
its various stakeholders to fashion out a modern nation by agreeing on terms
for the people’s coexistence. Call it whatever name, Nigerians has to work
towards arriving at an acceptable framework that determines the basis of a much
desired unity in a re-invented country.
A
cornerstone of that framework must be justice for all, regardless of your
background or where you come from.As it is now, no matter what any Nigerian
leader at whatever level preaches about Nigeria, with the way they have been
denied justice,the Agbahime family, or the children of Oluwasesin, for
instance, will never, ever feel that they belong to this country.
But this
government can still redeem itself and that is what it should do by revisiting
the Agbahime case and making sure those who needlessly killed that woman are
truly punished. Otherwise, not only that this country will continue to be a
laughing stock in the eyes of the world, one would be persuaded to queue behind
those who still argue with candid vehemence that we are yet to have a country.
(Onyeacholem is a journalist. He can be
reached on gonyeacholem@gmail.com)
TOURISM IS A GREAT INDUSTRY IN THE MODERN WORLD.A GREAT SOURCE FOR FOREIGN CURRENCY,A GREAT EMPLOYER OF CITIZEN,A PLEASURE AND EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE. OUR GREAT NATION ,THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA IS MISSING OUT IN ALL THAT.THE REASON IS THE CONSTANT SHOW OF NUMBER OF PICTURES OF PEOPLE KILLING EACH OTHER. MOSTLY GOD INSPIRED ,YOU KNOW WELL THE NAME YOU GIVE TO THAT NIGERIAN GOD WHO LOVES TO SEE YOU KILL THOSE HE DOES NOT LIKE.IT COSTS YOU MORE TO ENTER NIGERIA THAN TO ENTER ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.EVERY CLERK DEMANDS SOMETHING BEFORE STAMPING THE VISA IN TORISTS PASSPORT. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE NIGERIA.?WHEN WILL YOU BEGIN TO CARRY YOURSLVES WITH DIGNITY?
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