Recently, a cartoon was made by a popular cartoon journalist from Northern Nigeria, Mustapha Bulama, depicting the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) as a lion that roared over the gruesome murder of Deborah Yakubu by mobs in Sokoto State, but kept silent over the killing of a pregnant Hausa lady, Harira, and her 4 children in Anambra State.
We live in a world where people give selective treatments to burning societal issues. We are all human beings and it is our responsibility to condemn atrocious acts of any kind, within and without equal. But the killing of Harira which stands to be condemned was not religiously motivated but is more of a regional and ethnic-inclined issue. CAN’s primary objective is to speak on matters that affect the faith and its adherents, and as such, they condemned the death of Deborah, who was killed for blasphemy against another religious belief. Harira and her children, like other residents in the South-East, were not murdered because they were of a different religious identity.
However, Bulama who was too emotional about the issue misinformed his audience. A news report by Sahara Reporters revealed that the Kaduna State Chapter of CAN condemned the killing of Harira, describing it as an “injury to all”. But still, it wasn’t mainly CAN’s responsibility to condemn the act.
The groups who were supposed to speak out against her killing by terrorists in the south-east were the Arewa Youth Forum (AYF), the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Human Rights Organisations, The Sultan of Sokoto, The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with apologies and condemnation from the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in whose land the killing of a non-indigene took place.
At this stage we are in as a nation, statements condemning the killing spree in our country are not enough nor will it bring back the deceased. The Federal Government and the Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) need to step up their game against those causing havoc in our country to further our national security.
