Deborah : Catholic Priest Writes On Sokoto Protests, Suggests How To Prevent Recurrence

Rev Fr Oluoma Chinenye John, a Priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, has reported how hoodlums attempted to burn the Sokoto diocese cathedral on Friday but were repelled by security agents.

He said a situation where people are murdered in cold blood is reoccurring in the country because government has not been hard on perpetrators.

According to him, the people who attacked the church were protesting against the arrest of the suspected murderers of Deborah Samuel, a student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education for alleged blasphemy.

“I called a fellow priest of Sokoto diocese to confirm if what I saw on the internet is true, namely that some hoodlums were trying to burn the cathedral in Sokoto in protest against the arrest of the criminals that murdered Deborah,” he stated on his official Facebook page adding that “he confirmed that the attempt was repelled. “

Rev Fr Oluoma maintained that the law does not give anyone the right to take another’s life and it is the government that is constitutionally empowered to enforce laws.

“If the Nigerian government has been successfully executing murderers of this kind, do you think it would have been occurring? Religion neither adds nor subtracts the guilt of murderers, same with region or tribe. Anywhere murder occurs by anyone, it’s government’s responsibility to prosecute the culprits.

“If government cannot come down hard on people who kill and maim others, you don’t have a country, this should bother you more than giving artificial coloration to a dastardly act.

“A lady was mobbed to death in the most gruesome manner, what does the constitution or law of the country say about murder? If the constitution is clear on what happens to murderers, it’s either the government executes it or irresponsibly ignores,” he stated.

The cleric stated that learning about the motive behind the murder is only important for prevention but that for Deborah to be murdered in cold blood, “ it rests squarely on govt to bring the murderers to book.

“Nigeria is a secular state, we are not governed by religious laws, this is where we should focus.

“And if there’s any part of our constitution that enables any religion to do as the adherents wish, then the rest of Nigerians should be on the street to pull it down or continue to suffer it’s effects. In a secular country, it’s insulting, belittling and cheapening to reduce a murder case to religion. I won’t be part of that idiocy, never ever,” he added.