THE GRUESOME KILLING OF DEBORAH SAMUEL: THE POSITION OF NIGERIAN CRIMINAL LAW By Abdulhakeem Gomih Ahmad.

 THE GRUESOME KILLING OF DEBORAH SAMUEL: THE POSITION OF NIGERIAN CRIMINAL LAW

By Abdulhakeem Gomih Ahmad.

     The Issue of people taking laws into their own hands is becoming rampant, it seems Nigerians have forgotten that there is an organ responsible for discharging that function. It is apparent that taking laws into your hands is illegal, what then is the essence of our laws and the establishment of courts if we continue implementing jungle justice? We have all heard of the unjust, illegal, gruesome and as well unlawful killing of one Sokoto student, Deborah Samuel over an alleged blasphemous statement, Which has begged some questions and legal issues that have emanated from that single action;

The meaning of Blasphemy,

Whether her killing is justifiable under Islamic Law,W

hether blasphemy is an offense under Nigeria Criminal Law,

Whether Islamic criminal law applies in Nigeria,

Whether or not the Constitution takes precedence over Islamic law,

Areas where Islamic law govern in Nigeria,

Whether or not the killers of Deborah has committed an offense,

All of these will be swiftly and briefly attended to.

     Blasphemy is any statement or act which any class of persons consider as a public insult on their religion. This simply means, insulting another person's religion is blasphemy. What each religion considers as blasphemy is relative to their religion alone. There are controversies as to whether it is punishable in Islam, some scholars agreed that it is considerd a grave offense, they hold a strong belief that insults to even the prophet is an offense, insulting Allah or the Noble prophet is strongly condemned in islam according to some scholars. And they have said it attracts death sentence. However, they laid down conditions to be fulfilled before carrying out the punishment, one of which is that, such a person must be given adequate time to reflect on his actions and a chance to repent on same. 

    secondly, individual persons cannot carry out the punishment on their own, only a constituted authority has the power to carry out the punishment having implemented the conditions laid down by Islam, and failure to comply with the procedures laid down by these scholars will nullify any actions taken by them, and as such, they would be liable for the offence of murder and will be accordingly subjected to death penalty under Islamic law. They confined their inquiry and relied on an Hadith narrated and reported by Abdullah ibn Abbas. The Hadith goes thus;

"A blind man had a slave-mother who used to abuse the Prophet (ﷺ) and disparage him. He forbade her but she did not stop. He rebuked her but she did not give up her habit. One night she began to slander the Prophet (ﷺ) and abuse him. So he took a dagger, placed it on her belly, pressed it, and killed her. A child who came between her legs was smeared with the blood that was there. When the morning came, the Prophet (ﷺ) was informed about it.

He assembled the people and said: I adjure by Allah the man who has done this action and I adjure him by my right to him that he should stand up. Jumping over the necks of the people and trembling the man stood up.

  He sat before the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah! I am her master; she used to abuse you and disparage you. I forbade her, but she did not stop, and I rebuked her, but she did not abandon her habit. I have two sons like pearls from her, and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse and disparage you. So I took a dagger, put it on her belly and pressed it till I killed her. Thereupon the Prophet (ﷺ) said: Oh be witness, no retaliation is payable for her blood".

   By implication, if we are to adopt the believe of these scholars in justifying the killing of the young lady, it can be summarized that they were wrong because the procedures as to that effect are not carried out, which made the killing barbaric and tantamount to jungle justice. It would have been lawful if they complied with the procedures. But they actually relied on a particular chapter of a book named RISALAT which prescribes death sentence on any Muslim who insults the prophet, however, it has been argued that such punishment can only be pronounced by the appropriate authority. The provision can be found in chapter 37 at paragraph 37.19, page 173 of Risala

The procedures for implementing that judgement is in chapter 38 of Risala. 

   There are also controversies on whether or not a non Muslim can be killed upon commission of blasphemy. Some Islamic scholars believe a non Muslim should not be killed, i.e only a believer can be punished for blasphemy. The second leg of the controversy is the believe of some group of scholars that it is not an offense, they believe blasphemy is only an immoral act and there is no explicit provision of the Quran or Hadith of the prophet that prescribes such a punishment to it. According to these scholars, no punishment of blasphemy can be traced to any Islamic authority. And as such, they declared the actions of he killers of Deborah Samuel illegal and unlawful under Islamic law. These people also believe that, even a Muslim cannot be punished for blasphemy as it is not traceable to any Islamic authority as a crime. 

   The above opinions are only relevant to Islamic countries operating full Shariah laws. The punishment can only be talked about only in an Islamic State alone. Nigeria is a diverse Nation with more than one religion being practiced, it is a constitutional country where the Constitution takes precedence over any other laws, and by implication, the penalty prescribed by Islam for blasphemy cannot be carried out in Nigeria. It would have been a different case if it was a full Islamic country where Islamic law takes supremacy. This makes their actions illegal abinitio

   It will be worthy to note that, Islamic law is indeed applicable in Nigeria, however, it is only restricted to Islamic personal matters, e.g issues of inheritance, divorce etc. Islamic criminal law does not apply in Nigeria and to that effect, section 36(12) of the CFRN has clearly abrogated any rules of customary criminal law and has also precluded Islamic criminal law from operating in Nigeria. Even though Islamic Criminal law does not operate in Nigeria, Nigerian law is not however silent on the issue of blasphemy, insulting another person's religion is a crime under Nigeria Criminal Law. And to that effect, section 204 of the Criminal Code specifically prohibited blasphemous actions or statements, which also prescribes 2 years imprisonment upon commission and no more.

  It is Crystal clear that, no judicial body or authority has the power to pass any Sentence exceeding 2years for blasphemy.

   It is my humble submission that the killing of Deborah Samuel is indeed cruel, barbaric and unjustifiable, hiding under the guise of Islam which is not justifiable enough, because even the prophet did not kill anyone for blasphemy during his lifetime, history had it that the prophet was insulted and even stoned by the Jews, it was not recorded anywhere that the prophet carried out any punishment of any kind on them.

   They called the prophet fake and all sorts of name, it was recorded in Quran 25 v 7 that the Jews insulted the prophet and even said that if his God was truly real, he would have sent down an angel to run errands for the prophet instead of him roaming the market places. Allah replied him in Quran 25 v 20 and told him to be patient with them, he made him realized that his predecessors faced the same challenges too. Allah should have told him to kill the Jews instead of encouraging him to be patient.

    An Hadith also had it that a man named Kaab during the lifetime of the prophet composed a song which vehemently insulted the prophet, it was gathered that the prophet was so much angry that he instructed his companions to behead him on sight. The man, (Kaab.) heard this and fled the city immediately, he could not return back to the city in fear of him being killed until some years, he later came back and covered all of his body so he wouldn't be easily recognized, it was said that he visited the prophet and compossed a three line poem to hail the prophet. The prophet was happy and he smiled, it was after he smiled that he unveiled himself, the prophet saw that it was the man who earlier insulted him but had to forgive him because he has repented. He also instructed immediately that he should be pardoned.

  It is my candid opinion that attaching their actions to Islam is unreasonable, Islam indeed is a religion of peace and as such, it doesn't condone any act of cruelty, just as we have extremists in Christianity, the killers of Deborah Samuel are the extremists in Islam. It is a jungle justice which is not part of Islamic teachings. Their action is no different from murder under Islamic Law.

  The Nigerian Criminal Law also considers this as murder, a legal act can be declared illegal if the procedures employed to achieve it is illegal. See the case of SHALLA v. STATE (2007) LPELR-3034(SC) this is also a blasphemy related case. One man named Abubakar Dan Sallah and five other people heard one Abdullah insulted the prophet, sallah said he went inside his house and took a knife after confirming that the information is true. He also said one Musa yaro made some quotations in Risala which prescribes that anyone who insults prophet Muhammed Shall be killed. He and his friends started beating him and he was later matcheted  till he died.

Shalla and five other people were charged for murder in the kebbi state high court before honourable Justice Ambursa on the 24th of February 2000.

  They were sentenced to death by hanging having been found guilty of murder. They appealed to the court of appeal and the supreme Court but they failed, both the court of appeal and the supreme Court upheld the judgement of the trial court. 

  On the final note, inciting rebellion on religious ground is also an offense, even articles that incites rebellion on the basis of religion is within the confinement of that section. Please be careful on how you address Deborah Samuel's issue. I sincerely sympathize with the deceased family, I pray they find comfort in the words of the Lord.

                                  

©️ Gomih Abdulhakeem Ahmad is 300 level Law student @university of Ilorin, A judge, at unilorin LSS court. Former LSS president Kwara CAILS.