The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has explained why he took down his tweet condemning the lynching of Deborah Samuel, a female student in Sokoto, over alleged blasphemy.
Recall that Deborah, a 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was stoned and burned to death by a mob in May 2022, for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad.
At the time, Atiku took to Twitter to condemn the killing and call for the perpetrators to be brought to book, but the post was deleted almost immediately.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV, when asked why he deleted the tweet condemning the killing, Atiku said he ordered that the post be taken down because he didn’t approve it before it was sent out.
He however, maintained that he condemned Deborah’s murder in subsequent posts.
“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.
Watch him speak below,
Why did you delete your tweet about Deborah's murder?
Atiku Abubakar gives his answer below: #CTVTweets#ThePeoplesTownHall#NigeriaDecides2023 pic.twitter.com/Bi9IYTmwgg
— Channels Television (@channelstv) December 11, 2022
