On the 12th day of May 2022, Nigeria was thrown into a frenzy when social media platforms carried posts of a video recording showing the lynching, burning to be exact, of one Ms. Deborah Samuel Yakubu, by a mob on the allegation that she insulted the Prophet Muhammed. The late Deborah was a student of Shehu Shagari Secondary School, situate in Sokoto State, in the Northern region of the country where Sharia [Islamic] law is the basis of the State’s criminal legislation. Of course, different think pieces from different schools of thought begun to flow uncontrollably; some supporting the actions of the mob on the grounds of disregard for religious beliefs while others condemned the action as a flagrant violation of the Constitution.
Law and Religion have always been two distinct fabrics yet inevitably interwoven in both societal development and legal jurisprudence. The Constitution in Section 33 guarantees the Right to life for every person and no one shall be deprived of this right except in the execution of a Court’s sentence after which he has been found guilty of a criminal offence. Section 38 on the other side of the coin says that everyone one has a Right to Thoughts, Conscience and Religion. The Law recognizes and seeks to enforce this right. For instance, Section 124, Criminal Law, Lagos State 2015, criminalizes the act of insulting the religion of another and punishes it with a prison sentence of 2 years or a N50,000 fine. At the same time, everyone is also entitled to the Right to Fair Hearing. Section 36(5) of the Constitution provides that everyone is presumed innocent until pronounced guilty by a competent Court of Law.
Whether or not blasphemy is a criminal offence in the North is irrelevant, Deborah ought to have been charged to Court first where her criminal liability or innocence would be determined. Deborah being a Christian also had the right to consent or not to the jurisdiction of the Sharia High Courts in Sokoto State. Therefore, the provisions of the Sharia Law did not automatically apply to her.
Section 6 of the Constitution establishes the Judiciary as the machinery of government responsible for interpreting the Law and adjudicating disputes. It was advocated in Federal Civil Service Commission v. Laoye [1987] 2 Nwlr [Part 106] Page 652 that men should drop their arms and carry their causes to the Courts. The lynching of Deborah is without a shred of doubt a homicide. The young woman was murdered. This reminds us of the 5th day of October 2012 where four (4) male students of the University of Port Harcourt [The ALUU Four] were lynched by a mob on a false accusation of theft.
Now, having attracted national and international attention, the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal ordered the arrest and prosecution of the killers. Both laymen and learned fellows alike expected the charges would be hinged on murder, but to our disdain and chagrin, two of the killers, Biliyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunchi, who were caught and arrested, were charged with conspiracy and inciting public disturbance; both charges carry a minimum of 2 years’ jail sentence. What a slap to Justice and disregard for the Law!
As gleaned from the facts above, the offences are homicidal in nature. The prosecution of the accused persons should be founded on such grounds. Anything less is a waste of tax payers’ money and a disappointing job.
Common Intention
Going further into the criminality of the accused persons’ actions, it is irrelevant if one of them raises a defence that killing Deborah was not part of his intention. The Supreme Court in the most recent decision of State v. Chukwu [2022] 6 Nwlr [Part 1825] Page 105 affirming the law that if two or more persons agree to prosecute an unlawful purpose, and in the process, another offence was committed which is a probable consequence of the initial purpose, the law is that both parties are deemed to have committed the offence. In simple terms, if A and B conspire to rob C and in the process of doing so, C was injured while resisting or trying to fight back, B cannot say that his intention was to steal from C and not injure him; because the injury C suffered was a probable or likely consequence of him being robbed. According to the words of Ajim, J.S.C @ Pages 153 -154, Paras H – C:
“It does not require that each participant in the prosecution of the unlawful purpose must have had the intention to commit the crime that was committed in the joint prosecution of the unlawful purpose before such participant can be convicted for the said crime. What the section clearly requires is that offence committed in the joint execution of the unlawful probable purpose must be of such nature that its commission was a probable consequence of the prosecution of such purpose.”
Juxtaposing both statutory and judicial authorities with the matter currently at hand, everyone who was involved in the process of lynching Deborah Samuel Yakubu, whether directly or indirectly should be charged with murder. It is shameful and disgraceful for the Sokoto State Government to turn a blind eye to injustice by bringing such worthless charges against murderers. Yes, it is worthless because a life has been lost; so how can conspiracy and public nuisance serve as a deterrent to other people like Messrs. Aliyu and Hukunchi?
The Right to Life is the first right a person enjoys by virtue of his birth, no one qualifies for it. It is a gift of nature and protected by the Constitution. The celebrated decision of Nosiru Bello v. Attorney General, Oyo State [1986] 5 Nwlr [part45] Page 828 says that even a person sentenced to death still has this right until the due procedure for execution of Judgement has been followed. How much more someone who is yet to be arrested, charged and convicted by a competent Court of Law?
Deborah’s case paints a picture of so many dark colors. There are a lot of elements and several issues. The provisions of Constitution have been jettisoned and casted aside. A life has been gruesomely taken. The Right to Fair Hearing has been wantonly breached; it is now sentencing before trial. The final nail on the coffin is that a State Government chooses to indirectly aid injustice by failing to prosecute killers for the exact offences committed.
Though, Religion and Law tread on separate paths, they often cross themselves on several occasions. The Law recognizes the Right to Religion and at the same time preserves the Right to Life. The Right to Life ranks prior to any other right possessed by a person and it must be guarded with the highest instrumentality of the Law.
It is ironic that the victim bears names [“Deborah” and “Samuel”] which in the Holy Bible, were names of some of the Judges who ruled the Israelites. The Courts in modern dispensation are presided by Magistrates, Judges or Justices [on appeal] and they are the appropriate forum to lodge complaints which will eventually determine the innocence or guilt of a person. The Constitution mandates that a person is deemed innocent until proven otherwise. It is therefore sad and pathetic that Deborah was judged and sentenced by a mob even before she stepped into the halls of a Courtroom. If we were to add to the Ten Commandments said to be handed by God to Moses, we can safely include “Thou Shalt Not Judge”!
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