Former Vice President and one of the opposition party presidential aspirants, Atiku Abubakar has deleted a post he made on his Facebook and Twitter pages condemning the killing of Deborah Samuel, following a series of threats by some Islamic extremists.
The young lady identified as Deborah Samuel was lynched and set ablaze by her Muslim colleagues for allegedly insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
The deceased, a 200-level student of the Department of Home Economics, Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, had complained bitterly over the influx of religious broadcast messages shared on her department’s WhatsApp page.
In a voice Note, the deceased reminded her coursemates that the group was created solely for academic purposes, such as sharing important information regarding tests, assignments, deadlines, examinations and the like.
“Holy ghost fire, nothing would happen to me. Is it by force you guys keep sending these religious messages in our group? Our group wasn’t created for that, but rather as a notice for when there’s a test, assignment, examinations, etc. Not this nonsense or some rubbish prophet posts,” voiced Miss Deborah on her department’s WhatsApp group.
A gory image and video clip of the incident on Thursday caused a stir on social media as netizens took sides based on religious beliefs and personal convictions.
WhatsApp group messages causing the killing of Deborah Samuel leaked out
Atiku, who is hoping to grab the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket, had taken to Twitter and Facebook to condemn the barbaric act.
According to Atiku’s which was written around 10:20 pm:
“There cannot be a justification for such gruesome murder.
“Deborah Yakubu was murdered, and all those behind her death must be brought to justice. My condolences to her family and friends.”
But storming his Facebook and Twitter pages, the extremists, mostly from the northern parts of the country, threatened not to vote for him in the forthcoming 2023 elections.
Warning him to jettison his condemnation of the cold-blooded murder, they also promised to mobilise against him.
“The prophet of Allah was insulted, Allah’s favourite and most loved was insulted and you never display rage. But an infidel that insulted Allah was killed and you are angry. Well done hypocrite.
“What the students did was a mistake, but the lady’s punishment by the law was still death,” one Islamic fanatic had tweeted in the Hausa language.
Following the threats, Atiku, who is usually seen as a moderate statesman, deleted his post less than an hour after publication.
While he did not engage them, he first deleted the post he made on Facebook and about an hour later, he also deleted that on Twitter.
It was reported that the posts had garnered thousands of reactions within minutes before he deleted them.
The former vice president’s actions have since earned him the derision of most Nigerians, who accused him of always chickening out when the going gets tough, an action they termed ‘unpresidential’.
Checks by news men on Atiku’s social media handle revealed that they were no longer there, but most of the comments were taken screenshots before Atiku deleted his post.
