Five suspects detained in connection with the murder on 2 June of Mrs Bridget
Agbahime, a 74-year-old Christian market trader, in Kano State, northern
Nigeria, have been released unconditionally five months after their arrest.
Dauda Ahmed, Zubairu Abdullahi, Abdulmumeen Mustafa, Abdullahi Abubakar
and Musa Abdullahi were arrested for the murder of Mrs Agbahime and charged
with “inciting disturbance, joint act, mischief and culpable homicide” under
sections 114, 80, 327 and 221 of the Penal Code. However, on 3 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.
Mrs Agbahime, the wife of a pastor from Deeper Life Bible Church in
Noman’sland, Kano, was murdered in Kofar Wambai market on 2 June following a
false accusation of blasphemy.
According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s (CSW’s) sources, despite
receiving several official warnings, Mr Ahmed, also a trader, had been
harassing her for a long time, and often performed pre-prayer ablutions at the
door of her shop, damaging her wares. On 2 June, when she politely asked him to
move away from the door, he began shouting that she had committed blasphemy. A
mob of over 500 people gathered and
battered Mrs Agbahime to death after dragging her out of a store owned by a
Muslim trader, where she and her husband had taken refuge. Her husband was
saved by the arrival of the police and subsequently returned to his ancestral
home in Imo State, southern Nigeria, for his own safety.
The decision to release the five men has been met by condemnation with
commentators questioning whether a magistrates court can have jurisdiction over
a murder case.
In a statement issued on 6 November, the Enugu State Chapter of the
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) urged Nigeria’s Federal Government to
revisit the case, adding that the actions of the court and the Kano State
Government would embolden fanatics to attack Christians under the guise of
religion.
The civil rights organisation Human Rights Writers Association of
Nigeria (HURIWA) described the decision as “illogical, unconstitutional […]
compromised” and “a primitive attempt to stoke up inter-ethnic conflict”. It
called on the Governor of Kano State and President Muhammadu Buhari to direct
the Commissioner of Police in Kano State and the Inspector General of Police
“to rapidly refile the matter in a proper court system so that the killers of
this Nigerian citizen are charged and punished for the unprovoked murder of
this innocent Igbo woman in Kano State.”
CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, "The unconditional
release of these suspects, 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. 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. We
also call 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."
Notes to Editors:
1. Mrs Agbahime was the second person in northern Nigeria to be killed by a mob during 2016 following allegations of blasphemy. In May, violence erupted in Pandogari Town, Niger State after Emmanuel Methodus, a Christian trader, was accused of a blasphemous posting on Facebook. He was murdered and his body burned. In the ensuing violence, three other people were killed, 25 Christian-owned shops were looted and four churches were destroyed, along with several Christian homes.
2. In Zamfara State in August, eight people were burned to death, while a
church elder’s home and the buildings and vicarages of the Evangelical Church
Winning All (ECWA), Anglican, Voice of
Jesus and Living Faith churches were burgled and vandalised in violence that
erupted after a mob heard that a new convert
who had been beaten and left for dead after being accused of blaspheming
during a discussion with a Muslim classmate at the Federal Polytechnic in
Talata Mafara, had been transported alive to hospital.