Kano and Ganduje: kill in the name of God
It is quite incredible that in this 21st century people are still talking about the repulsive and retrograde act of killing other human beings for religious reasons. Yes, it is very unfortunate that when the rest of the world advances with massive human and infrastructure development, innovative and progressive laws that include the removal of capital punishment from their laws, in Nigeria people are still thinking of beheading a single citizen. for singing against. their religion. Isn’t this disgusting and embarrassing? It was recently reported that the Governor of Kano State in Nigeria, Abdullahi Ganduje, said that he would not waste time signing the death warrant against citizen Shariff Yahaya Aminu Shariff, a musician who was recently sentenced to death by a Sharia court in Kano for alleged blasphemy against the Prophet. Shariff, 22, was arrested, tried and convicted for a song that circulated on WhatsApp in March. And surprisingly, the Kano branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Sharia Council and some other cult leaders in the state are reported to support this. Well, thank you for managing two different legal systems in one country: one conventional and one religious.
To the extent that we do not support people who deliberately disregard other people’s faith, we also want to say that it is about time that we put all this religious fanaticism and the right thing to do to face more serious development and prosperity challenges for our people. Why should we always spend so much time, emotions and resources on things like this when we are not done with the very important things that would improve our society? Just listen to our governor: “The sentence has been passed and the law of the land allows the convicted person to appeal again within 30 days to the Superior Court, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, as the case may be. The arrest warrant is presented to me from her, I will not waste time signing it. On the other hand, if she does not appeal within the specified period, I will not spend a minute signing the death warrant. ” OMG! Look at the zeal, the energy that Governor Ganduje is putting into ensuring his readiness to see Citizen Shariff’s head explode. Are you putting the same level of passion and effort into developing your status? I doubt. Perhaps this convict also campaigned and voted for him to become governor, hoping for better leadership.
Look at the decaying infrastructure in Kano, the level of extreme poverty, the decline of the famous international textile market that once flourished, the millions of children out of school, the countless restless young people, the skyrocketing crime rate, the lack of cleanliness. water and proper waste management, etc. What have you done with all of these since you took power? Kano, with all the resources and prospects for prosperity, remains one of the most restless states in Nigeria due to the level of poverty, illiteracy and mismanagement. Now, are you still wondering why it flares up easily with every little scratch? You should do well to get down to business, tackle all these infrastructure challenges, and not wait excitedly, eagerly, to shorten the life of one of your citizens for trivial reasons. You sure have a lot of work to do before your term ends. Please take care that this verdict is not carried out. Nigerians are really tired of wasting human and material resources in the name of religion. Religious fanaticism and extremism are part of what has kept the country depressed since independence. You are not expected to aspire to certain political offices, obtain certain appointments, head certain agencies, rise to certain ranks or hold some military posts or obtain certain government sponsorships if you do not belong to the preferred religion of the powers that be. Religion, which should be a blessing and a tool for positive development, has unfortunately become a curse for Nigeria. As I write, the police are fighting with the Shiite sect in Kaduna state. They again demand the release of their leader, who has been detained by the authorities for some years. Many lives have already been lost. And this Shiite problem is another bomb waiting to explode in the country. I fear that Nigeria will not be able to survive an additional insurgency at that level. The Northeast insurgency / war, herders and kidnapping threats are already bleeding and paralyzing the country.
The federal government and the courts of appeal must do what is necessary immediately to stop these primitive actions that will terribly tarnish our image to the world, especially now that we are trying to woo investors. No sane investor or tourist will want to go to places where people are still being amputated or beheaded for religious reasons. We congratulate the human rights groups who have so far lobbied the Kano government to withdraw this post. We also call on our legislators to realize their responsibilities. It is high time that laws were enacted to stop all these barbaric actions. They must also see immediately that capital punishment is removed from our laws. Nigeria is one of the few countries that still practices this. Most countries have since ruled it out. Look at the UK, our former colonial masters and from where we borrow most of our laws, today they celebrate the 55th year of the abolition of the death penalty. The Abolition of the Death Penalty Act was enacted in 1965 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaced the death penalty with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. Then the United Nations, of which Nigeria is a prominent member, have also been pushing for this. It has adopted various motions to completely abolish capital punishment around the world.
Religion is simply believing and worshiping something that you believe exists somewhere. Most of the things they teach us in religion are history that we are all waiting to verify after this life. So why should we fight and kill ourselves for them? Why should we kill and fight for God? Really worth it? There should be total religious freedom. One should have the freedom to practice his faith in the way he feels and believes without hindrance, except when it constitutes a nuisance to society or violates the rights and freedom of other people. It is very wrong to force people to believe what you believe or to punish them for not practicing or worshiping in your own way. Nigerians still remember and mourn people like Gidoen Akaluka and many others who have been horribly murdered or deprived of their livelihood in all this senseless religious fanaticism. His blood still speaks against our land and the perpetrators. Children and families still ask for justice. Now, how do we expect prosperity and progress with all this in our hands? Please, we plead with our kind Governor, His Excellency Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and the good people of Kano, not to waste another life in the name of religious or political correctness.
Gabriel is the author of the books: Never again! Move Forward, Power of Midnight Prayer and others https://www.amazon.com/Power-Midnight-Prayer-Gabriel-Agbo/dp/1475273738/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1593877396&sr=8-2