Mafia murders and hey, the North needs to heal itself

The barbaric fatal lynching of a young teacher, Islamic preacher and mother of four children, Ummulkhair Usman Aliyuin Kaduna, penultimate week, on allegations of child abduction should jolt the North into action, awaken it from its slumber and set the Internet on fire. None of this happened. This has only given impetus to the North’s culture of silence and the previous perpetuation of such acts without consequences.

The phenomenon of extrajudicial killings remains a crucial challenge to the rule of law across Nigeria. However, in the North, while mass actions sometimes arise from allegations of petty theft or civil disputes, the most prominent and serious cases often involve allegations of religious blasphemy.

The latest, flimsy and unverified child kidnapping allegation led to Ummulkhair’s murder. “Ummulkhair was removed from legal custody on the basis of unverified allegations, stripped of her dignity, denied a fair trial and brutally killed in circumstances that exposed a dangerous collapse of civic order,” the source said. Muslim Public Affairs Center (MPAC) he noted, adding that “no accusation, no matter how sensitive, justifies mass execution. A society that allows suspicion to prevail over law is a society sliding into anarchy.”

And this is the fate of the North today, in the context of the national malaise in which insecurity has become. While the rest of the country is outraged and challenged to act or seek creative solutions, the North seems too callous to act.

When insecurity threatened to engulf the South West in 2020, Amotekun was created and led by all the governors in the area. I have yet to see such a coordinated initiative from the Northern political class, so the insecurity continues to worsen. Amotekun may not have succeeded in curbing insecurity totally, but it already has a place in history.

Apart MPACwho expressed “deep indignation and moral indignation” over the murder of Ummulkhair, there has been no commensurate condemnation from Muslim personalities and Islamic organizations such as JNI AND NSCIA. Speaking out against jungle justice in the name of Islam by those who matter, and the prosecution of transgressors by governments, could nip it in the bud.

Yet the series of similar cases in the North, as documented by human rights organizations and legal records confirming horrific religiously motivated incidents affecting both Christians and Muslims, is disturbing. In many cases, investigations later reveal that religious accusations were used as a weapon to resolve personal grievances, business rivalries, or local disputes.

In July 1999, one Abdullah Umaru from Kebbi State, a Muslim, was lynched by criminals following accusations of making disrespectful comments. Oluwaseesan Shuka was falsely accused in Gombe State in March 2007. Ms Shuka was supervising an Islamic knowledge exam at Gandu Government Secondary School. While gathering personal belongings to avoid cheating, he confiscated a student’s bag that allegedly contained a copy of the Quran. A charge of desecration was raised, leading a mob to burn her to death.

Bridget Agbahime suffered the same fate in June 2016 at Kofar Wambai market in Kano. During the dispute he got into an argument which resulted in accusations of blasphemy. A crowd gathered at the market, beat her to death and attempted to burn her body before security forces intervened.

Another case is that of Tanka Yakasaioccurred in Kano state in 2018. Yakasai, a Muslim, was attacked and killed by an angry mob following accusations of insulting religious sensitivities, highlighting how local mobs could turn on members of their own religious community over verbal disputes.

Then came the widely reported case of Deborah Samuel Yakubuoccurred in Sokoto in May 2022. She was a Christian and a second year student at Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto. She was killed for objecting to the publication of religious posts in a WhatsApp group intended exclusively for academic assignments, an objection deemed blasphemous.

A month later, in the nation’s capital, FCT Abuja, Ahmad Usmana Muslim member of a local security vanguard, was attacked to death following an argument with an Islamic cleric that resulted in accusations of blasphemy.

One year later, in June 2023, Usman Budaa Muslim butcher, was lynched by a mob of fellow traders at Sokoto Central Market for an alleged blasphemous remark made during an argument. Subsequent investigations by civil society organizations, including Amnesty International, indicated that the religious charge was fabricated or heavily manipulated to resolve commercial rivalries over sales on market stalls.

In all these cases before Ummulkhair’s, no guilty verdict has ever been established against anyone, despite the fact that Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria guarantees the right to life, and Section 36 guarantees the right to a fair trial, in a country where murder and arson are criminal offenses and human rights violations, but only on paper. Here lies the crux of the matter. How can a region endure such injustices and hope to make progress?

In this regard, we urge Governor Uba Sani to commit to ensuring that justice is done to the memory of a woman who dedicated her life to imparting knowledge and spreading the gospel of Islam. The governor, during a visit to the family of the deceased, revealed that he is working with relevant security agencies to “get to the root of the matter” so that the 41 people so far charged with culpable homicide are duly prosecuted.

This culture of silence and these cases of extrajudicial killings must end and the criminal justice system must take its course. In this onerous task, the media should not show bias in their reporting. The political class should show leadership by activating all relevant security agencies and the judiciary to ensure justice and closure for the victims and their families. The death penalty is the ultimate punishment for this type of crime. Governors should therefore stop hesitating to sign death warrants for convicted offenders.

If the police were found to be non-compliant, as alleged in the case of Ummulkhair’s death, they would have to pay for their negligence. Law enforcement standing by the accused and protecting their integrity until they are found guilty should be the hallmark of police work, not abandoning an accused person to be hacked to death. If the police fail to subdue and subdue the unruly mobs and protect the suspects in their custody, I wonder where the citizens should take refuge. Surely, in this case, the police have a case to answer.

Don’t we have enough anger to show in cases like this? There should be revulsion, outrage and condemnation across the country. Instead we resort to religious insults and prejudices, leaving the substantive issue of crime unattended.

I couldn’t agree more with MPAC’s assertion that “this was organized savagery enabled by rumors, fear and institutional failure,” as claimed by its Executive Chairman, Disu Kamorwho added that “Ummulkhair’s killing is not an isolated incident. It is part of a worsening pattern in which rumors quickly turn to violence and in which accused persons are denied the protection of institutions charged with upholding justice. This culture of immediate punishment is a direct threat to national stability.”