Outrage, yesterday, greeted alleged lynching of the wife of a pastor in Kano by a mob made up of Muslims over alleged blasphemy. The woman, Bridget Agbahime, described as Igbo from Imo State, was said to have disallowed some Muslims from performing ablution in front of her shop in Kofar Wambai area of Kano metropolis, following which she was accused of blasphemy and the mob gathered to lynch her. The killing was said to have happened in the presence of the woman’s husband, Pastor Mike Agbahime, on Thursday. President Muhammadu Buhari; Governor Abdullahi Umar of Kano State; his Imo State counterpart, Rochas Okorocha and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) led the condemnation of the murder yesterday. The condemnation came on a day the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, called for calm on the incident and assured that justice will be done on the case. Force Headquarters also said two suspects had been arrested in connection with the incident. Ganduje A statement by Force Public Relations officer, ACP Olabisi Kolawole said, “Those arrested include Dauda Ahmed and Subeiru Abubakar. “In order to ensure a diligent and professional investigation, the Inspector General of Police has directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in- charge of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) to deploy the Homicide Section of the Department to immediately take over the investigation of the case and ensure a meticulous investigation and speedy prosecution of the arrested suspects. “The IGP has also directed the Commissioner of Police of Kano State to sustain the community engagement actions which he is currently initiating with all strategic security stakeholders and community leaders in the State with a view to dousing the tension being generated by the condemnable incident”. In a statement by presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari “condoles with the husband of the deceased, Pastor Mike Agbahime, the family and relations, praying that God would give them the fortitude to bear the loss.” The president also “commended the law enforcement agents for apprehending the prime suspect behind the killing, as well as the Kano State government, which summoned a meeting of Christian and Islamic leaders, widower of the deceased, and security agencies, as soon as the sad event occurred.” The President assured that justice would be done in the matter, and urged the people not to take the law into their hands. He equally charged those who may want to use the development to fan the embers of religious or ethnic hatred to remember that two wrongs never make a right, and that when law and order breaks down, those who become victims were never distinguished on the basis of religion or ethnicity. Ganduje was swift in condemning the killing. Rising from a meeting chaired by the governor and attended by prominent personalities including the state Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Rev. Ransome Bello; the husband of the deceased, Pastor Mike Agbahime; Islamic scholars and security agencies, the stakeholders described the incident as “unfortunate and regrettable.” In a resolution read by Ganduje after the meeting, the stakeholders condoled Agbahime, stressing that “the killing of his wife is unjustifiable and without her fault”. The governor asserted that justice must be done in the matter, in accordance with the law. In his remarks, the state CAN Chairman, Bello, said his association was satisfied with the resolutions adding that “there is nothing better any person would expect more than what you (the governor) have done tonight”. Okorocha, in a statement, yesterday, described the murder as “a rude shock and the height of recklessness”. The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Mr. Sam Nwuemeodo, also described it as “most unfortunate”. “The governor received the news with rude shock and indeed with utmost dismay, the unfortunate report that a woman from the state, Mrs. Bridget Agbaheme, was murdered in cold blood in Kano State, over related religious issues and described the killing as the height of recklessness on the part of the perpetrators”, the CPS said. According to Onwuemeodo, when the governor was informed about the disturbing incident, he took the necessary steps and even went beyond the media reports on the sad development to confirm the report and discovered that the woman in question was truly from Mbaitoli Local Government Area of the state. “At this stage, the governor has no option than to call on all relevant security agencies in Kano State to leave no stone unturned in carrying out thorough investigation into the killing of the woman, and also stop at nothing to bring those who carried out the murder to book and pay dearly for their wicked act”, the CPS said. MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu, described the killing of the woman as gruesome and barbaric, insisting that his group would no longer tolerate the killing of Igbo anywhere in Nigeria. The statement read in part: “The unprovoked and insensitive killing of Igbo woman yesterday in Kano state is unacceptable to MASSOB. It can never be washed away or treated insensitively as usual. “The open barbaric gruesome murder of an Igbo mother in Arewaland is a conscious provocation of conscience of Ndigbo. “Why must the blood of Biafrans continue to be split on the cursed soil of Arewaland in the name of Islamic Religious fundamentalist and extremists? “MASSOB also warns that Deeper Life Church must compensate the pastor husband of the slain Igbo woman because they posted the family to Kano state”.
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