Blasphemy is weighed, calculated and determined by their mood, their discretion and their own interpretation of your own actions. It is their words against whoever has been selected to be smeared with the sludge of blasphemy
Humans outside our shores find it hard to believe some of the things they hear about Nigeria. These events and incidents are so surreal and inconceivable that they begin to question your sanity if you narrate these stories to them. The sordid and abhorrent nature of these incidents made them stranger than fiction for a person living in saner climes. One of such unconscionable and incomprehensible incidents happened again over the weekend. A woman was lynched by a rampaging mob in Niger State for alleged blasphemy. The latest in the long list of heinous and barbaric acts associated with religious extremism.
One of the greatest calamities that can befall a nation is having an army of uneducated youth armed with nothing but the destructive ideology of religious extremism. Northern Nigeria perfectly embodies this scenario. For years on end, the region has been the hotbed of religious extremism, a phenomenon exacerbated by poor political leadership. The combination of these factors has inculcated in a youthful population an ethnoreligious doctrine that normalises the gruesome killing of people for blasphemy. The list of people whose lives have been cut short because of purported claims of blasphemy is troubling.
The latest incident happened in Kasuwan-Garba town in Mariga Local Government Area of the state. The only reason these despicable and abhorrent acts have gone on for too long is because there are no consequences, and the perpetrators are not brought to book. These hordes have become emboldened by the inaction of the governments. In 2022, Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a second-year Christian college student, was grisly murdered by a mob of Muslim students in Sokoto, Nigeria, after being accused of blasphemy against Islam. Those indicted in her murder were later discharged and acquitted after the prosecution lawyers refused to show up at trial due to threats and intimidation.
Even more worrisome is the fact that the actions of these societal vermin are not supported by the religion or the prophet they are claiming to act on behalf of. They contradict the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and the tenets of Islam. They are only hiding under the banner of Islam and false reverence for the prophet to satiate their bloodlust for violence, destruction and death. Another troubling aspect of this disturbing trend is that their words are laws. Blasphemy is whatever they say it is. There’s no distinct and codified definition of what constitutes blasphemy, it is what they say it is. Blasphemy is weighed, calculated and determined by their mood, their discretion and their own interpretation of your own actions. It is their words against whoever has been selected to be smeared with the sludge of blasphemy and their words are the final verdict. They are the judge, the jury and the executioner.
The government has allowed this impunity and lawlessness to go on for far too long. Something must now give. We can’t build a peaceful, orderly and thriving nation if we have people whose behaviour is anathema to modern society. As it is with past cases of blasphemy-induced death, the self-styled blasphemy police whose hands are soaked with the innocent blood of the slain Niger woman will not be punished. A nation that has normalised and accepted death as a penalty for real or perceived blasphemy is firmly on the path of destruction.
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