Islam, blasphemy and the Nigerian Law School

Law school

It was reported last week that some Muslim students of the Nigerian Law School Lagos campus attempted to lynch a colleague of theirs last week for writing a blasphemous article against prophet Mohammed and it was nipped in the bud by security agencies. After much stress, I was able to lay my hands on the said article which necessitated the attempted lynching. It is important I allude to the fact that the article is provocative and unnecessary but two wrongs does not make a right. To say the least, the situation is disturbing and terrifying in the sense that the individuals from the Lagos Law School that want to carry out this heinous acts are future Senior Advocate of Nigeria, jurists and human right activists

These individuals have spent five years at their respective institutions learning the essentials of the law profession and its dos and don’ts to prepare them as the defenders of the oppressed but it seems they never paid attention to it as they themselves are now oppressors. I can’t imagine that the lynching would have been successful and the suspects will escape justice as the case may be and end up as our NBA President or Chief Justice of Nigeria. No! this is a perilous time for the legal profession.

It also raise a question of what our religious leaders have been teaching their subjects, there is a big task for the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs to fight extremism in Islam in Nigeria and eschew respect for the law of the land. The issue of people being threatened for blasphemy in this country for anti-Mohammed articles and statement is on the increase and several people have already died for this cause. The case of Bridget Agbahime readily comes to mind here. She was killed by some irate youths in Kano for eating during the Ramadan fast. I didn’t matter that she was Christian and as such not obligated to fast.  Also, there was a time some actors received death threats in Ibadan for a dance drama called “alfa-sule” in fact, their vehicles were destroyed in Ibadan and they narrowly escaped mob justice.

All these are recurrent indices which shows some individuals among us have propagated toxic teachings. Our President is a Muslim, Emir of Kano is a Muslim, Aliko Dangote is a Muslim, and the Sultan of Sokoto is an exceptional one as he has made it a point of duty to congratulate Christians anytime we have our festivities. These individuals nor their children will not lynch anyone for blasphemy. It means some individuals have used Islam to propagate evil to some of these evil actors and it’s important we guard against that.

I must at this juncture commend the security agencies for a swift response to forestall the breakdown of law and order. However, the Nigerian Law School must as a matter of responsibility fish out the writer for punishment due to the provocative nature of his article while the suspected lynchers too must be brought to book to serve as deterrent to others. The Legal profession is a noble one and the last hope of the common man, its activities must not be tainted by individuals that are not fit for the Legal temple.

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