Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the flagbearer of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the 2023 presidential election, has explained why his tweet condemning the killing of Deborah Samuel was deleted.
Deborah Yakubu, a 200-level Home Economics student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto State, was earlier this year stoned to death and set ablaze by Islamic extremists for alleged blasphemy.
Atiku said that apart from the deleted tweet, he had condemned the murder of the student in a subsequent statement.
Recall that a few hours after the incident, Atiku had tweeted a total condemnation of the murder, but the tweet was deleted after a few minutes after the former Vice President was threatened by some of his followers who vowed to wait for him on the election day.
But speaking at The People’s Townhall on Channels Television in Abuja on Sunday, Atiku condemned the killing and provided a further explanation on why the tweet was pulled down.
Atiku said he did not approve the tweet condemning the lynching of the Christian student and ordered for it to be removed.
“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.
