DEBORAH: THE RULE OF LAW MUST TRIUMPH

The use of force in place of the rule of law is a recipe for anarchy, writes Sonnie  Ekwowusi

The rule of law must be allowed to triumph in the matter of the barbaric murder of Deborah Samuel no matter whose ox is gored. Therefore the Sokoto State police, State security agents and the authorities must not succumb to the cheap blackmail and intimidation of some Islamic fanatics and extremists who are now sponsoring orgy of arson and circles of violence in demand for the release of the suspected killers of Deborah. Deborah was a 200-level Christian student of Shehu Shagari College of Education (SSCOE), Sokoto State. Last week she was stoned to death and set ablaze in the most barbaric manner by some fanatical Muslim students of the same school allegedly for blasphemy. Instead of listening to the voice of the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar 111 and other voices of reason who have been condemning the murder and calling for justice for Deborah, the Sokoto State Chief Imam Dr. Sheikh Mansour and some Islamic extremists are putting pressure on the police and the authorities to release the suspected killers of Deborah. The police and the security agents should not only ignore them and do what’s right.

 On its part, the Sokoto State Ministry of Justice must ensure that all the suspected killers of Deborah are swiftly charged to court for murder and executed upon conviction as stipulated in the law. I repeat: Deborah’s murderers should be rounded up, charged to court for murder and executed upon conviction. And if it is established that Professor Ibrahim Magari, the Chief Imam of the National Mosque, Abuja and others had in any way aided the crisis they too should be arrested and charged to court. Nobody is above the law of the land.

The Sokoto State Chief Imam Dr. Sheikh Mansour and Professor Magari argue that jungle justice meted out against Deborah was aimed at defending Prophet Mohammed (peace be on him) and Islam. Hear Professor Magari, “It should be known to everyone that we the Muslims have some red lines beyond which must not be crossed… If our grievances are not properly addressed, then we should not be criticized for addressing them ourselves.” Contrary to the assertions of Dr. Sheikh Mansour and Professor Magari, jungle justice is unacceptable in Islam. In any case, Deborah did not cross any Islamic red line warranting her murder. Like the conscience of the nation Leah Sharibu, Deborah, merely publicly exercised her right to religious freedom before she was murdered. What was her “offence”? She ascribed her success in an examination which she sat for to Jesus Christ. And when violently ordered by the fanatical Muslim students around her to retract the name Jesus Christ, she refused to do so. That was all before they stoned her to death and set her body ablaze. She was merely exercising her right to religious freedom as enshrined in our 1999 Constitution. By virtue of section 10 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, Nigeria is a secular State. Islam is not a State religion either in Sokoto State or anywhere in Nigeria. The import of this is that Deborah, like Leah Sharibu, was free to publicly reject Islam and embrace Christianity.

 You see, you cannot force anyone to subscribe to your religion. God has created all of us and given us human freedom and expects us to freely exercise our freedom in one way or another. It is disappointing that clerics whose calling is to shepherd their flock to conduct themselves in edifying manner are busy inciting them to take to violence – to maiming, killing and destruction of property of so-called infidels. By their fruits we shall know them. Violence has never been used to ultimately solve any human problem. So, why unleash violence against others for refusing to profess your religion? Although Muslims are enjoined to proselytize non-believers to embrace Islam and spread Islamic teachings, they are not enjoined to do so by force or through terrorism or through abduction or killing of human beings or arson.

Dr. Sheikh Mansour and Professor Magari cannot claim to know the Holy Qur’an more than the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar 111 who has since condemned the murder of Deborah. Islam is a religion of peace. Islam abhors jungle justice. I am surrounded by many fervent Muslim friends and I have never heard any of them threatening to kill any Christian for any reason. Like in Christianity, human life is inviolable in Islam. Human life cannot be taken away except for a just cause.

 Some Nigerians under the pretext of defending Allah, seem to have perfected the crime of killing their fellow brothers and sisters in Nigeria. For years, they have been getting away with such killings. For example, in 1995, Gideon Akaluka, a Christian, was beheaded in Kano prison for no reason other than the fact that he was a Christian. Till date, the killers of Akaluka have not been brought to justice. In 1999 major Islamic violent riots erupted in Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Minna and Jos claiming human lives. In the year 2000, we witnessed the Sharia riots. Other violent riots seized Jos in 2001 and 2004. From 2005 to 2011, major religious and ethnic riots and killings had engulfed some major cities in the North.  On December 18 1980 the “Maitatsine guerrilla war” engulfed the North claiming officially about the lives of 2,800 people even though the army was invited to stop the war. In 1982 or so, the Maitatsine “war” was again ignited in Bulunkutu, Borno State, and then Gongola, leaving in its aftermath the death of about 900 people. In 1984 some Muslim students of Bayero University started a religious riot which spread to Bauchi and Kano claiming uncountable human lives. In 1985 a violet religious riot erupted simultaneously in about seven Northern States. While the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) debate raged in the country in 1986, a religious violence was averted in the North. By 6^th or 7^th of March 7 1987, the Kafanchan religious conflagration swallowed up Kaduna, Zaria and Kano. About 50 churches were set ablaze. The 90s were not safe either. Following the crusade organized in Kano in 1991 by a German evangelist Reinhard Bonke, another round of religious riots overtook Katsina, Kafanchan, Zaria, Funtua, Kankum, Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi and other Northern cities claiming many human lives and leaving many people injured.

 We must understand that the spilling of the blood of our fellow men and women diminishes our own existence. The use of force in place of the rule of law is a recipe for anarchy.  Any religion ungoverned by the rule of law is dangerous to human society. Under the rule of law the judiciary occupies a unique place in safeguarding the rights of the citizenry. Such rights and regard for the rule of law are the bedrock upon which the society lays its claim to civilization.

 Ekwowusi writes from Lagos