IS JUSTICE ALREADY COMING THE WAY OF THE VICTIMS? GOD HELP US

Supreme Court okays death sentences on two Islamic militants

By Tobi Soniyi, Abuja

The Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentences passed on two Islamic militants, Abubakar Dan Shalla and Musa Yaro, who in company of others, slaughtered another Muslim for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammed.
In two judgments delivered on Friday, a panel of five justices of the court, comprising Justices Sylvester Onu, Adesola Oguntade, Mariam Mukhtar, Walter Onnoghen, and Tanko Muhammad, unanimously turned down the appeal of two out of the six militants who killed the deceased, Alhaji Abdullar Umaru.

The event leading to the killing took place on July 14, 1999 in Randali Village in Kebbi State.

According to the lead judgment delivered by Justice Oguntade, on that fateful day, word went round that Umaru had insulted Prophet Muhammed, which made some militants, including the two condemned persons, pass judgment on him that he must die.

They went to the village where the deceased was, arrested him and slaughtered him by slicing his throat.

“As adherents to the teachings of the Holy Quran, the appellant and the other accused persons accepted that they had a duty to kill the deceased as contained in the Holy Quoran.”

They were consequently arrested and arraigned before a high court in Birnin-Kebbi on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, abatement and culpable homicide. This is contrary to sections 97, 85 and 22 (a) of the Penal Code.

When the trial commenced, the six accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges even though they admitted to killing the deceased.

They were accordingly found guilty and sentenced to death on January 19, 2000 by the trial court.

According to Justice Oguntade, “The manner in which the appellant and the other accused persons behaved during their trial by not calling evidence to deny the allegations against them, and by admitting that they killed the deceased show without doubt that they laboured under a notion that they had a duty under Islamic injunction to kill the deceased.”

They were convicted and sentenced to death. Two of the six convicts appealed to the Court of Appeal and lost.

They again appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming that the defence of justification and provocation should have availed them.

In rejecting the argument, the Supreme Court noted that the insulting words allegedly uttered by the deceased were not stated to enable the trial judge to know that they were capable of provoking the convicts and justifying their actions.

Justice Oguntade said, “In the circumstances of this case, since the trial court was not told the words alleged to have been uttered by the deceased or the act he did which were contrary to the injunction of Islam as contained in the Holy Quran, and which justified his killing, the trial court could not be criticised for not engaging in a futile speculation.

“In any case, even on the assumption, (although without proof), that the deceased had in some way done any thing or uttered any word which was considered insulting to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, was it open to the appellant and others with him to constitute themselves into a court of law to pronounce the death sentence on another citizen?

“Plainly, this was jungle justice at its most primitive and callous level.

“The facts of this case are rather chilling and leave one wondering why the appellant and others with him committed this most barbaric act.”
http://odili.net/news/source/2007/oct/8/413.html

Too bad this won't bring the victim back to life, but I hope it serves as a deterrent to others.

God!!! in Nigeria.this Muslim militants again

when are they going to convict the Gombe students that killed Oluwatosin?

or will the following quote from Muhammad

Muhammad said, " No Muslim should be killed for killing a Kafir" (infidel). Vol. 9:50

set them free?

This is actually happening in the year 2007 in NIGERIA? LORD HAVE MERCY ON US ALL, Slit a guy's throat for not seeing things as they do?? Things are even worse in that area than I thought.

Finally, some sort of justice.
We need more of this as a deterrent to other who kill for Islam in Nigeria. These Islamic murderers must be stopped.

somze:

Finally, some sort of justice.
We need more of this as a deterrent to other who kill for Islam in Nigeria. These Islamic murderers must be stopped.

I will drink to that!  If they can wage war against Niger Delta militants and so on--Religious militants should be brought to book too.  After all militant na militant.  No one cares under which label you choose to affiliate the crime with. Infact more should be rounded up--to prove that such babaric behaviours anywhere in Nigeria will not be tolerated. Political, economic and social murderers should be booked too! We have more of those than "Islamic" murderers as you claim they are!

nwando:

when are they going to convict the Gombe students that killed Oluwatosin?

or will the following quote from Muhammad
set them free?

We are waiting just like we are waiting for the political militants who killed Dele Giwa and Bola Ige to be brought to book!   Murderers are all over Nigeria.  Why some of you choose to focus on "Islamic" one beats me when they constitute the minority of "murderers" in Nigeria. People are dissapearing everyday in Nigeria and I am dead sure the "Islamic" Murderers did not "slash" them all!

Almondjoy
Erm . . . Er . . Niger Delta militants?
Why dont we take it slowly here, the topic says islamic militants
Lets stick to that.

somze:

Almondjoy
Erm . . . Er . . Niger Delta militants?
Why don't we take it slowly here, the topic says islamic militants
Lets stick to that.

No I cannot.   I choose to take Nigeria as a whole with all its problems and just as we have religious militants in the north, we have political and social militants everywhere in Nigeria. 

So I cannot stick to "Islamic militants" because that would be deviating from the main trouble makers in Nigeria.  If they fooled you with that "crock", they definitely did not fool me.  Can we please go after the main "Militants" in Nigeria?   You think Islamic militants are the main militants in Nigeria?  OMG!  They got you too! This is the main card played by the main militants so you can never see reason with your neighbour. I refuse to fall for that!

do you live in nigeria?

What do you know about nigeria?

somze:

do you live in nigeria?

What do you know about nigeria?

I do not think I could survive living there now 365 days or 366 days in a year.  I have to escape the madness once every 3 months at least!  Hopefully I would not meet my end in one of the numerous "militant" groups in Nigeria, my beloved country! Islamic militants are the least of my concerns. I fear the social ones of the day and night. Or the political ones looking for fresh ritual killings to stay in power more!

You are joking right?--- I live there live! Just that the nature of my job takes me out of Nigeria frequently--Thank God

ok o

almondjoy:

No I cannot. I choose to take Nigeria as a whole with all its problems and just as we have religious militants in the north, we have political and social militants everywhere in Nigeria.

So I cannot stick to "Islamic militants" because that would be deviating from the main trouble makers in Nigeria. If they fooled you with that "crock", they definitely did not fool me. Can we please go after the main "Militants" in Nigeria? You think Islamic militants are the main militants in Nigeria? OMG! They got you too! This is the main card played by the main militants so you can never see reason with your neighbour. I refuse to fall for that!

I wish one could statistically quantify your claims, so as to help destroy the myth that all muslim Nigerians are a bunch of evil barbaric anti-progressive people!

JosBoy4Lif:

I wish one could statistically quantify your claims, so as to help destroy the myth that all muslim Nigerians are a bunch of evil barbaric anti-progressive people!

Are all Muslims in Nigeria "Islamic Millitants" @JosBoy4Lif , Even I have friends who are muslims and they themselves are quick to tell you that there is really a problem with the islamic millitants. There is a Huge problem with the lslamic millitants up North and we need to deal with it since the Islamic groups are not taking it on themselves to squelch the situation since you seem to care so much about your image as a muslim.

Na wah o!!! This shows that Nigerian courts system are really working.
It really shows that we have laws in Nigeria so people can't just go hide under the disguise of religion and be killing people. Up Nigeria!

Kobojunkie:

Are all Muslims in Nigeria "Islamic Millitants" @JosBoy4Lif , Even I have friends who are muslims and they themselves are quick to tell you that there is really a problem with the islamic millitants. There is a Huge problem with the lslamic millitants up North and we need to deal with it since the Islamic groups are not taking it on themselves to squelch the situation since you seem to care so much about your image as a muslim.

Firstly Iam not muslim, secondly I never said all muslims are militants, rather their is a belief holed steadfast that all muslims are barbaric,

By whom?? @Josboy4Lif. Who are these people that believe all muslims are millitants?? Do the people in the south who live amongst muslims there know of this??

Not a bad one, let's jst hope they kill those crazy extremists, this is Naija now, we all know this is not the first time that some powerful men overruled a court's pronouncement and considering the issue surrounding this situation, its been sensitive for a while and has made bulk of the Northern Nigeria so volatile. i guess we should just pray that absolute justice is done, not just the pronounce ment. We dont need these monsters around us.

Justice!

This is good news!

I hope they extend this to non-Muslim victims.

A strong message should be sent to these Islamic militants!

Sentencing a couple of Muslim fundamentalist murderers to death is unlikely to serve as a deterrent to others since they will all assume that the two condemned men have only transcended mortality to go spend the rest of eternity boning 70 virgins immediately following the minor and temporary discomfort of the hangman's noose.

To young unmarried testosterone-intoxicated Muslim men who are segregated from women by religious dogma, there is probably no greater motivating factor to go out and murder someone than the promise of spending the rest of all time copulating with those 70 virgins.  Many of those ultra-Hot Jihadists would probably jump at the chance to slit a few throats even if the promised heavenly reward was nothing more alluring than a middle aged LovePeddler with missing teeth.   Any port in a storm.

Well! I don't know what to say other than as we all are educated to some level we should research Islam before passing many comments. Islam does not absolutely condone killing anybody for such a reason. If that were the case just think why would people like Mohammed Ali, Cat Stevens and Prof. Moore choose to be muslims. It's very true that Islam is populated by a lot of terrorism and it is very easy for the stupid who are dogmatic to get carried away with lies or to amplify rules that would have applied in the seventh century to things now. Anyway the bottom line is this, don't get brain washed by the big giant propaganda machine and believe me I'm not being paranoid, it's real. I think people should occupy their time finding out who are the real criminals at the helm of affairs. These stupid so called Jihadists who don't know anything about Jihad get opinionated with things that are happening in palestine for instance and long for such things over here as if they were the same things. They used hail Saddam Hussein who used to kill muslims himself. they are just a bunch of stupid sheep that are being used for political reasons. Capisce?

If the death penalty wont serve as deterrent for these brain-washed folks (because of some baseless reward of 70 virgins for such a gruesome act); then they should be kept in holes.

Does Islam actually promise 70 virgins as reward for a gruesome murder such as this??

Hmm True Talk, na true talk you talk true-true. Some Musilimu dey expect 7 virgins, some dey expect 70 virgins, and others dey expect 700 virgins as reward for any Musulumi when fit go find Keferi to kill for nothing, BUT wettin all of them believe be say them go fork tire for heaven once wey them don commit that murder finish.

Make I explain am for you easy way.  You see, CRAZE and MADNESS dey different-different and set-by-set, when e be say some type of craze go catch only one man and cause am to commot all him cloth and stop to dey barber him head so that all him biya-biya go come boku like wild animal, and den some special craze come dey wey fit catch many-many people at once when e be say all of them just bust out from Mosque, come begin go dey find Keferi to butcher because of how them Afa for Mosque don promise them say pata-pata at least them go chook onyanya tire for heaven once them don commit that murder finish, because of all the so-so fresh toto them go meet over-guage for ground inside heaven.

Jakumo:

Sentencing a couple of Muslim fundamentalist murderers to death is unlikely to serve as a deterrent to others since they will all assume that the two condemned men have only transcended mortality to go spend the rest of eternity boning 70 virgins immediately following the minor and temporary discomfort of the hangman's noose.

To young unmarried testosterone-intoxicated Muslim men who are segregated from women by religious dogma, there is probably no greater motivating factor to go out and murder someone than the promise of spending the rest of all time copulating with those 70 virgins.   Many of those ultra-Hot Jihadists would probably jump at the chance to slit a few throats even if the promised heavenly reward was nothing more alluring than a middle aged LovePeddler with missing teeth.   Any port in a storm.

You are too too funny Jakumo! LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

Please send them on as quickly as possible.  As long as the "virgins" are not here on earth with me, they can have as many as they wish---with or without teeth!   Let them just slit their own throats and get it over with as soon as possible.  No need to take another human life in the name of "Islam"!  These people have misinterpreted the Islamic religion from what it is supposed to be and like I always maintain---other religions are just as easy targets being used by some unscrupulous fellows to commit murder.  Many have written and over-written the "holy books" to suit their selfish aims of violence.  I do not blame any religion.  Religion does not kill people--people kill people and should be brought to book as soon as possible.

vescucci:

Well! I don't know what to say other than as we all are educated to some level we should research Islam before passing many comments. Islam does not absolutely condone killing anybody for such a reason. If that were the case just think why would people like Muhammad Ali, Cat Stevens and Prof. Moore choose to be muslims. It's very true that Islam is populated by a lot of terrorism and it is very easy for the stupid[b] who are dogmatic to get carried away with lies or to amplify rules that would have applied in the seventh century to things now.[/b]


Anyway the bottom line is this, don't get brain washed by the big giant propaganda machine and believe me I'm not being paranoid, it's real. I think people should occupy their time finding out who are the real criminals at the helm of affairs. These stupid so called Jihadists[b] who don't know anything about Jihad get opinionated with things that are happening in palestine for instance and long for such things over here as if they were the same things. [/b] They used hail Saddam Hussein who used to kill muslims himself. they are just a bunch of stupid sheep that are being used for political reasons. Capisce?

My sentiments exactly.  I wonder when we would ever learn and see through all the smokescreen!!!!!!

justice at last for the family of the deceased. i know this will not serve as a deterent to other religious militants. Let God be the judge and we should say no to jungle justice and not act as wild animals in the forest. Anyway, if not for the humanising influences of western education and christianity, men would be savage like wild beasts.

debetmx:

justice at last for the family of the deceased. i know this will not serve as a deterent to other religious militants. Let God be the judge and we should say no to jungle justice and not act as wild animals in the forest. Anyway, if not for the humanising influences of western education and christianity, men would be savage like wild beasts.

Hmm!!! -------------------- ---wondering what to make of that last sentence. We have savage beasts in all religions please! Point of correction.

Well, some are seen, heard and felt much more than others

A true muslim is the one expected to kill infidels.
A true christain is not xpected to kill 'infidels'

Let any muslim disprove this.

cgift:

A true muslim is the one expected to kill infidels.
A true chri[/b]stain is not xpected to kill 'infidels'

Let any muslim disprove this.

I love that!  A "true christian"!   We mostly have those who serve "God" and "Marmon" dancing around the globe!  Now do the same for the "real muslim"!!!   We have the real and fake in all religions and they often boil down to the same thing---"hypocrisy"-----even where the M.O. is different!

somze:

Well, [b]some are seen, heard and felt much more than others

Like in all religions!

What do you mean in all religions? A highly rated Imam in the middle east tells Osama he can kill 10 million Americans and its ok. What other religion sanctions the murder of innocent people?

Granted we have people that misuse the purpose of a religion for their personal purpose but Islam backs up the murder of non-islamists. This is why you always hear sad stories in every country where they exist.

Please can you name one Islamic nation that allows freedom of religion?

Good qustion by Somze. Its only people who are deluded that would say Islam is a religion of Peace. In fact, the 'real muslims' in teh north will slay southern muslims when pushed as they consider them not true adherents of Islam and i know they are right.

If your prophet tells you to forcefully convert or kill in the name of religion whtat do you call those who preach peace and still claim they are muslims? Hypocrites. So, the real muslim is commanded to kpai infidels.

Again, islam preaches murder and all forms of lust, Christianity doesn't. The diference is so glaring that ven the blind knows that we do not serve the same God. Their allah existed before Mohammad was born.

That's a well deserved jugement