CAN expresses reservation over court judgement on the murder of Mrs Bridget Agbahime

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in 19 Northern states and Abuja has expressed its reservation over the freedom of five suspects allegedly connected with the murder of late Mrs Bridget Agbahime.

74 year old Mrs Agbahime, wife of Mike Agbahime, a pastor of Deeper Life Bible Church was killed by a mob which accused her of blasphemy in June this year.

According to the association through its spokesperson in a statement, "the judgement had further brought the judiciary into serious attack."

The group stressed that more needed to be done to ensure the judiciary discharge its duty credibly.

The group further asked the Attorney General of the Federation to, as a matter of urgency, call the Kano State Attorney General to order to ensure that justice was seen to be done in the case. It said that the court judgement, which discharged the suspect, will encourage people to take laws into their hands since “evil is seen to be unpunished and many other groups would be tempted to harm or kill innocent citizens under any false guise since they can buy their freedom from the courts”.

The association urged Christians to be calm and assured the family of the deceased that CAN would not give up on its efforts until justice is duly served.

“Having gone through the case diary, the Attorney General of Kano State evaluated the facts in accordance with Section 130 and 150 of the Criminal Procedure Code and presented the legal advice.

“The legal advice presented to the court dated June 24, states that there is no case to answer as the suspects are all innocent,” the statement read.

Mrs Agbahime, 74, an Imo state indigene, was murdered on June 2, 2016 in Kofar Wambai Market in Kano state over alleged blasphemy.

The five suspects set free by the court are Zubairu Abubakar, Musa Abdullahi, Dauda Ahmed, Abdullahi Abubakar and Abdulmumeen Mustafa.