The Northern chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria has condemned the killing of a 74-year old Igbo market woman, Mrs Bridget Agbahime, accused of blaspheming Prophet Mohammed by irate mobs in Kano State.
The body noted that the killing of Christians using flimsy excuses was unacceptable.
The Northern CAN warned that such act, which it described as barbaric must henceforth stop.
They urged the Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje and Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi to call their people to order.
The Christian body wondered why such gruesome and barbaric incident always feature in Kano, a foremost commercial city in the country.
“Why must it always be Kano State. This is not telling good of the state known to be a commercial city,” the Public Relations Officer of Northern CAN, Reverend John Hayab, told newsmen in Kaduna on Saturday in reaction to the incident.
Hayab noted that information made available to the group indicated that the late Mrs Agbahime was deliberately killed.
Besides, he said, the late woman was over 70 years and not 45 as widely reported, wondering how children of the deceased would forever live with such barbaric act meted out to their mother.
The CAN spokesman, therefore, called on the state government to, apart from arresting the key suspect, fish out other perpetrators and prosecute them in accordance with the law of the country.
The religious body also called on Islamic leaders to teach their followers on how to tolerate other faith, noting that on their parts, christian leaders had always taught their followers on the need to respect other religion.
The Northern CAN, also called on the police to at all times, carry out their constitutonal role of safeguarding the lives and properties of Nigerians without fear or favour.
The CAN’s spokesman said: “We got it on good authority that the slained woman never blasphemed the Prophet Mohammed. That the mastermind of the killing, was fond of always provoking the deceased and so, on that fateful day, we learnt, the said man was doing ablution in front of the woman’s shop and was cautioned. That was all. The man raised the alarm that she blasphemed Prophet Mohammed.”
The cleric added: “The man deliberately provoke the woman in question just to carry out that gruesome and barbaric acts.
“We are saying the mere arrest of the key suspect of this barbaric act was not enough. All those that perpetuated the killing of the innocent woman must be fished out and brought to book.
“The state government must go further than this and the Emir of Kano and all well- meaning citizens of Kano must come out and condemned it. This is not telling good of the area(Kano).
“We are committed to peace and stability of this country. We can’t understand why our people should killed on flimsy excuse(s).”
