THE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called for peaceful, nationwide protests over the gruesome killing of Deborah Yakubu.
The CAN president, Reverend Samson Ayokunle, in a letter signed by his General Secretary, Joseph Bade Daramola, requested that all church leaders should organise peaceful protests to honour the slain girl.
The ICIR had reported how some youths in Sokoto State stoned and burnt Deborah on Thursday May 12, 2022 for what they believed was blasphemy against the Islamic Prophet Muhammed.
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The CAN president, in a letter titled, ‘A Request for Nationwide Peaceful Protests, Calling for Justice for Deborah Yakubu’, directs all Christians, including those living in the diaspora, to gather on May 22, 2022 for the peaceful protests.
The letter read in part, “I have been directed by the CAN President, His Eminence, Rev. Dr Samson Olasupo A. Ayokunle, to request all Church Leaders, through your various Churches to organise a peaceful protest in honour of one of our daughters, DEBORAH YAKUBU, who was gruesomely murdered on Thursday, 12 May 2022, at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, in Sokoto State by some Islamic extremists.
“The protest will take place on 22 May 2022 in the afternoon by 3:00 pm in every Secretariat of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) nationwide and not on the streets in order to avoid further loss of lives. Those without CAN’s Secretariat may use any church with big premises.”
Ayokunle also urged those who can not afford to be physically present to make use of traditional and social media to partake in the protest.
“We urge those who could afford it to make use of the traditional media and the social media, and others can use only the social media to give it wide coverage in order to sensitise the whole world.
“We also call on Nigerian Christians in the diaspora to join us using our embassies all over the world,” the statement read.
He appealed to the christian faithful to use the occasion to pray for Deborah’s family and friends, and peace for the country.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via niyioyedeji1@gmail.com. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.