The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has vowed to petition international organisations in order to urge the Federal Government to address the knotty issue of religious violence in Nigeria.
Samson Ayokunle, president of the CAN, added that the government “has not been able to take decisive action” on cases of religious violence and “the entire world needs to hear”.
He spoke in reaction to the killing of Deborah Yakubu, a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, for alleged blasphemy.The police command in Sokoto arrested two suspects in connection with the killing.
Speaking on the situation, Ayokunle said, “this is not the first time this type of thing will happen,” and “we need to appeal to the international communities and organisations to help Nigeria and Nigerian Christians”.
“In this country, we are a democracy, and we are the constitution guiding our lives. If anybody has transgressed in whatever way, nobody has the right to take unilateral action and just terminate the life of another human being. This is not the first time this type of thing will happen,” the CAN president said.
“If we have been talking to our government and they have not been able to take decisive action in bringing the culprits to book, then the entire world needs to hear. We need to appeal to the international communities and organisations to help Nigeria and Nigerian Christians.
“Everybody has the right to speak, and if their speech is dangerous or perceived as ‘hate speech,’ we have the law to handle that. Everybody cannot become a law enforcement agent. This is barbaric and annoying, and this kind of thing should stop. If we talk to the government decisive and they are not, we drag it to the rest of the world to call our government to order and be more serious”, he added.
