Rukayya Farouk, the Special Assistant on New Media to Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has come under intense public scrutiny after her old social media posts resurfaced, showing her apparent support for the death penalty in blasphemy cases and dismissing claims of religious persecution against Christians in Nigeria.
The controversy reignited after Farouk, using her X (formerly Twitter) handle @hayateey1, dismissed allegations of mass killings of Christians in Nigeria. Her comment was in response to a post by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who had accused Nigerian authorities of “ignoring and facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists.”
Farouk fired back, calling Cruz’s statement “falsehoods,” claiming Nigeria was peaceful and that people of different faiths coexisted harmoniously.
“There is no such thing as a mass murder of Christians in Nigeria. I wonder where you got your information from. Nigeria is peaceful, and we coexist regardless of tribe or religion,” she wrote.
She further accused the senator of hypocrisy, referencing U.S. support for Israel and ending her post with “#FreePalestine.”
However, online users quickly unearthed several of Farouk’s old tweets that many described as “extremist” and “hypocritical.” One of the posts dated April 29, 2020, read:
“Western education has done more harm than good to our society. That’s why some miscreants commit blasphemy and some Muslims defend them. Any knowledge that will make me stand against my religion, ya Allah, distant it from me.”
Another controversial post from December 15, 2022, praised the Kano State Government for sentencing Islamic cleric Abduljabbar Kamara to death for alleged blasphemy, calling it a “huge achievement” for the then Governor Abdullahi Ganduje administration. She concluded the post with “Allahu Akbar.”
Her resurfaced statements have sparked outrage across social media, with many Nigerians accusing her of double standards and religious intolerance.
One user, @Johnson_Gbemi, mocked her for condemning western education while benefiting from it:
“Western education is bad but you’re tweeting on X, a western platform. If that’s not foolishness, I don’t know what is.”
Another user, @aimthamchine, questioned her educational qualifications, writing:
“Why do you have a BSc and MBA if western education is bad? This is why Sharia law is weaponized against poor people while elites like you use it to manipulate others.”
Similarly, @ms_rahhh criticized her hypocrisy:
“You have the opportunities you enjoy today because of western education, yet you demonize it. History will judge this hypocrisy harshly.”
Background: Blasphemy and Mob Killings in Nigeria
Since Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999, the country has recorded several violent incidents linked to blasphemy accusations, especially in the northern states governed under Sharia and secular law.
In May 2022, Deborah Samuel, a student at Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was lynched and burned by fellow students after being accused of insulting Prophet Muhammad in a WhatsApp message. The gruesome killing drew global condemnation and renewed calls for reform of Nigeria’s blasphemy laws.
Earlier incidents include the 2002 Kaduna riots following a ThisDay newspaper article about Prophet Muhammad and the 1999 Kebbi mob killing of Abdullahi Umaru over alleged blasphemy.
Despite international pressure, Nigerian authorities have consistently denied claims that Christians are being deliberately targeted, insisting that violence in the country affects all citizens regardless of religion.
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