UK-based religious freedom advocacy, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, has called the unconditional release of five men in Nigeria – all suspects in the murder of a woman falsely accused of blasphemy – as “inexplicable and unacceptable”.
The five men were arrested for the 2nd June murder of Bridget Agbahime, wife of a Kano pastor, and charged with “inciting disturbance, joint act, mischief and culpable homicide”, according to CSW. However, the organisation says that on 3rd November, Kano State’s chief magistrate Muhammad Jibril, acting on a directive from the Kano State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, discharged the five suspects and terminated the case against them.
CSW says Mrs Agbahime was killed in the Kofar Wambai market following what it describes as “a false accusation of blasphemy”. Mrs Agbahime has been accused of blasphemy by a fellow trader after she asked him to move away from the door to her shop where CSW says he was performing pre-prayer ablutions, damaging her goods. She and her husband took refuge in another store, owned by a Muslim trader, but she was dragged out by a mob of more than 500 people and battered to death. Her husband was saved by the arrival of police and has returned to his ancestral home in a southern state for his own safety.
Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of CSW, says the release of the men, “one of whom we believe to be directly implicated in, if not responsible for this brutal murder, is both inexplicable and unacceptable”.
“The continuing lack of consequences will increase the impunity surrounding blasphemy accusations, which are used to justify the most extreme acts of lawlessness, regardless of the character and integrity of the person making the accusation,” he said in a statement. “In order to combat impunity and strengthen the rule of law, it is essential that no person or social grouping is seen as being above the law. CSW therefore urges the federal authorities to ensure this decision is reviewed and that the perpetrators of this appalling murder face justice.”
CSW have also called on both state and federal authorities “to be more proactive in tackling the culture of impunity and ending the weaponising of religion to justify the taking innocent lives”.
The decision has also been condemned by a range of other groups including the Enugu State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, who in a statement issued on 6th November, urged Nigeria’s Federal Government to revisit the case, saying that the actions of the court and the Kano State Government would embolden fanatics to attack Christians under the guise of religion. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) described the decision as “illogical, unconstitutional…compromised” and “a primitive attempt to stoke up inter-ethnic conflict”.
