Lagos, Dec. 12, 2022 – Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, says his tweet condemning the murder of Deborah Samuel, a student who was allegedly lynched for blasphemy in Sokoto, was deleted because he did not approve of it.
Deborah, a Christian 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, was killed by fellow students in May 2022 for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad.
After the alleged lynching of Debora, Atiku was said to have tweeted: “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 condolence to her family and friends.”
However, speaking on Channels Television on Sunday, Atiku said: “I asked that the tweet to be deleted because I normally approve every tweet and since I did not approve the tweet, I asked them to delete it. If you read my subsequent statement on that murder, I condemned it.”
A few hours after Atiku deleted the tweet, he wrote in Hausa to his friends on Facebook: “this evening I received information that a post was made that doesn’t agree with my orders. I use this to announce that any post without A. A. is not from me. May God protect us.” (GBN)
