Atiku re-explains why his tweet about Deborah’s murder was deleted

In May, Samuel a 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education was set ablaze by an angry mob of colleagues for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad.

Reacting to the barbaric act, Atiku via his verified social media handles condemned the killing of the student and also called for everyone involved in her murder to be brought to justice.

“There cannot be a justification for such gruesome murder. Deborah Yakubu was murdered, and all those behind her death must be brought to justice. My condolences to her family and friends,” he tweeted.

But Atiku who was a PDP presidential aspirant at the time deleted the post on all his social media pages after some young Muslim northerners in the comment section threatened that they won’t vote for him because of his take on the incident. 

Explaining why the posts were deleted, he said he didn’t approve the statement posted on his Facebook and Twitter pages.

Subsequently, the presidential candidate was severely criticised for deleting his initial statement on the issue as many Nigerians accused him of protecting and prioritising his presidential ambition over the killing of a young Nigerian.

But while answering questions on the matter on Sunday, December 11, 2022, during a live discussion on People’s Townhall on Channels TV, the former Vice President insisted that he ordered the initial tweet to be deleted because he didn’t approve it.

He added that he had in subsequent statements condemned the killing, adding that there was no justification for killing in Islam.

“I asked the tweet to be deleted because I normally approve every tweet. So, since I didn’t approve it, I said, ‘delete it’. If you read my subsequent statements on that murder, I condemned it.

“There is nowhere it is said or it is an injunction in the Islamic faith that you can go and take somebody’s life, nowhere, it has to be through due process, he said.

Atiku attended the People’s Townhall on Channels TV with his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.