Christian Association of Nigeria has condemned the killing of a 74-year old Igbo market woman, Mrs Bridget Agbahime,

The Northern chapter of the Christian
Association of Nigeria has condemned the
killing of a 74-year old Igbo market woman,
Mrs Bridget Agbahime, accused of
blaspheming Prophet Mohammed by irate
mobs in Kano State.
The body noted that the killing of
Christians using flimsy excuses was
unacceptable.
The Northern CAN warned that such act,
which it described as barbaric must
henceforth stop.
They urged the Kano State Governor, Dr.
Abdullahi Ganduje and Emir of Kano,
Lamido Sanusi to call their people to order.
The Christian body wondered why such
gruesome and barbaric incident always
feature in Kano, a foremost commercial
city in the country.
“Why must it always be Kano State. This is
not telling good of the state known to be a
commercial city,” the Public Relations
Officer of Northern CAN, Reverend John
Hayab, told newsmen in Kaduna on
Saturday in reaction to the incident.
Hayab noted that information made
available to the group indicated that the
late Mrs Agbahime was deliberately killed.
Besides, he said, the late woman was over
70 years and not 45 as widely reported,
wondering how children of the deceased
would forever live with such barbaric act
meted out to their mother.
The CAN spokesman, therefore, called on
the state government to, apart from
arresting the key suspect, fish out other
perpetrators and prosecute them in
accordance with the law of the country.
The religious body also called on Islamic
leaders to teach their followers on how to
tolerate other faith, noting that on their
parts, christian leaders had always taught
their followers on the need to respect
other religion.
The Northern CAN, also called on the
police to at all times, carry out their
constitutonal role of safeguarding the lives
and properties of Nigerians without fear or
favour.
The CAN’s spokesman said: “We got it on
good authority that the slained woman
never blasphemed the Prophet
Mohammed. That the mastermind of the
killing, was fond of always provoking the
deceased and so, on that fateful day, we
learnt, the said man was doing ablution in
front of the woman’s shop and was
cautioned. That was all. The man raised
the alarm that she blasphemed Prophet
Mohammed.”
The cleric added: “The man deliberately
provoke the woman in question just to
carry out that gruesome and barbaric acts.
“We are saying the mere arrest of the key
suspect of this barbaric act was not
enough. All those that perpetuated the
killing of the innocent woman must be
fished out and brought to book.
“The state government must go further
than this and the Emir of Kano and all
well- meaning citizens of Kano must come
out and condemned it. This is not telling
good of the area(Kano).
“We are committed to peace and stability
of this country. We can’t understand why
our people should killed on flimsy excuse
(s).”