The Christian Association of Nigeria has directed churches to embark on a nationwide peaceful protest over the gruesome murder of a student of Shehu Shagari College of in Sokoto, Deborah Samuel, by Muslim fundamentalists.
The General Secretary of CAN, Joseph Bade Daramola, gave the directive in a letter obtained by journalists on Saturday.
According to him, the peaceful protest would take place on Sunday, May 22.
He said, “I have been directed by the CAN President, Dr Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, to request all church leaders, through your various churches, to organise a peaceful protest in honour of one of our daughters, Deborah Yakubu, who was gruesomely murdered on Thursday, May 12, 2022 at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto in Sokoto State by some Islamic extremists.
“The protest will take place on May 22, 2022 in the afternoon by 3pm in every secretariat of the Christian Association of Nigeria nationwide and not on the streets in order to avoid further loss of lives. Those without CAN’s Secretariat may use any church with big premises.
“We are to hold placards with some succinct message like ‘We demand justice 4 Deborah’, ‘No more killing in God’s name’, ‘Enough is Enough’, ‘Police, stop unprovoked killings in Nigeria’, ‘Christians are not second-class citizens’, ‘Killers of Deborah must be prosecuted’, ‘We condemn religious killings’.
Daramola also called on Nigerian Christians in the Diaspora to join the peaceful protests using the nation’s embassies all over the world.
“The occasion can also be used to pray for Deborah’s family and friends, peace for the country, victory for the Church and (emergence of ) godly political leaders in the coming general elections,” he said.
