Buhari vows action over Zamfara Killings

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his dismay at the recent Zamfara killings in which a mob burnt a family of eight to death for daring to shield a man accused of blasphemy.

On Monday, a student of the Abdu Gusau Polytechnic in Zamfara was accused of making a blasphemous statement against Islam and Prophet Muhammed. This reportedly caused an angry mob to attack him; nearly beating him to a pulp.

While the student was being beaten, a brave man – simply identified as Tajudeen, rescued him in his car and rushed him to a hospital.

The mob angered by Tajudeen’s heroic act, moved to his house and set it on fire, killing eight people in the process.

Unlike his delayed response to similar incidents in the past, President Buhari took to his Twitter account this morning to condemn the Zamfara killings as well as commiserate with the victims.

The president equally emphasized that his administration would not tolerate religious violence in any form.

The seemingly quick reaction from the president has been commended by some observers who see it as a gradual shift from the laidback attitude of the presidency when similar events occurred in the recent past.

Many others are however hoping that the president would indeed do more than condemn the mob violence. For them, only justice will deter recurrence.

In the last two months, there have been at least two popular incidents of violent attacks linked to religion, in Abuja and Kano. The Zamfara killings therefore heightened a sense of fear among many citizens that a major religious crisis could be in the offing if government fails to take action.

President Buhari has assured the nation that the law would take its course and one can only hope that in the present case, the law will act swiftly.

The president’s tweets reacting to the Zamfara killings below:

I received news of the mob killings in Zamfara with great dismay. It is barbaric & unacceptable. I assure that the law will take its course

— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) August 23, 2016

Under my watch we will work to ensure that there is no place for violence in the name of religion, ethnicity, or in any guise whatsoever.

— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) August 23, 2016