BRIDGET AGBAHIME | Questions On My Mind

Bridget Agbaheme and the circumstances surrounding her murder for blasphemy against the Prophet have been on my mind.

My musings were the cause of my silence since her extrajudicial death on Thursday 2016 June 2 at the hands of Northern Muslims in Kano’s Kofar Wambai Market.

Having read widely on the case, I feel too many questions remain unanswered.

What interaction, conversation or argument was she engaged with the Hausa-Fulani that brought the Messenger Of Allah into topic?

Over the last six years, I have rarely had a discussion with a Northerner, let alone on religion.

I consciously choose my interactions, which depends on cognitive ability, not on ethnicity or religion.

“Keep your culture and religion to yourself” has been my response.

That has led to the use of the Department Of State Services ~DSS/ SSS and the Nigeria Police Force ~NPF to do the dirty work of enforcing the way of life of the North.

The state terrorists did not succeed where the civilian terrorists failed.

I remain a proud Nigerian.

What then was Bridget, a Christian, doing having a discussion on religion with Muslims in the North of Nigeria?

Please note carefully that Muslims in the North of Nigeria refers to all Muslims, irrespective of origin, who bear the North’s proclivity for negativity in the name of Islam.

That encompasses not just the Hausa-Fulani, the Zuru and other ethnicities of the core North; the Ebira, Nupe, Igala et cetera of the Middle Belt; but also the Yoruba and ethnicities of Edo State, both in the South.

Christians are the ones to loudly chorus Allah Akbar and other Islamic recitations.

Christians readily cite: Islam and Christianity are the same, even in circumstances that has nothing to do with religion.

These days, I can not engage in a secular interaction with a Christian without the latter mentioning similarities between the two faiths.

Besides, one of the SSS terrorists who held me hostage for four days in the middle of 2014 December repeated that common ground to the pleasant nod of a Christian civilian.

Yes, that was expected to be used against me.

I resisted the urge to walk out of the interrogation office.

Is the story of Bridget – and her husband Mike, a witness to her brutal killing – another incident of a Christian’s desperate attempt to placate Northerners with religious resemblance, only to misstep, real or perceived, and land herself in trouble?

If the issue was a space for ablution, was that the first time of Muslims performing wudhu near her store or other acts in violations of her privacy rights?

That is highly doubtful.

The probability weighs more on a frequent practice to the silence or playful protest of the storekeeper.

Need I remind my loyal readers of the role of Christians in ensuring Muslims get away with encroachment?

The moment she puts down her foot on the matter, she becomes persona non grata.

Christians are at the forefront of convincing or outright brainwashing new residents here to conform to the culture of the North.

When in Rome, behave as a Roman is the favourite slogan of Ndi Igbo.

Somehow, the same Christians scream when they experience violence for not acting as a Roman.

Can someone please remind such Christians that murder is the way of life of the North?

What is the essence of all the uproar, after all?

In my conversation with an Igbo acquaintance after alerting him of the lynching of Bridget, I learnt he has not raised an objection to Muslims carrying out wudhu into the drainage in front of his office.

Of course, I suggested that should business improve with increased traffic to his centre, he might want to consider modifying that policy.

That will spell trouble given that Muslims virtually ignore his demands to respect his own space.

My visits appear to have a positive effect, as yesterday they cleared his entrance on seeing me stroll past.

Interestingly, security agencies known for upholding the wishes of the North frantically expect Nigerians to believe that justice will be done for Bridget.

A couple of days before the jungle execution of Bridget by a mob, I announced my research while in remand for 15 days in Sokoto State Prison.

Question: Are persons involved in sectarian conflicts brought here?

Answer: No.

Perhaps, police officers who watched while Bridget was beaten to death were implementing to the letter:

Go back where you came from. People do not want you here.

Those were the words of Sokoto State Assistant Commissioner in-charge of State Criminal Intelligence And Investigation Department ~AC-SCIID after he ordered my humiliation for “sitting in one place for several hours making phone calls”!

The sooner more Nigerians commence valuing and peacefully asserting own constitutional rights the better for us all.

The alternative is the continuation of the “it is the environment” shrug to human rights abuses.

~ * ~ * ~

[My dear guests, who relish my writings, feel free to Commission My Work]