03/11/2025
30 years ago, an Igbo trader, Gideon Akaluka, was beheaded in Kano — his head hoisted on a stick and taken on a victory parade after being accused of desecrating the Qur’an.
The Beheading of Gideon Akaluka
Gideon Akaluka was an Igbo trader from Imo State who lived in Kano, a major commercial city in northern Nigeria. At the time of his death, he was married with children and operated a flourishing business in Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian and non-Hausa community within Kano metropolis.
In December 1995, Akaluka was accused of desecrating pages of the Qur’an. The allegation arose after his wife was said to have used a piece of paper, allegedly containing verses from the Qur’an, to wrap their baby’s excreta. Rumours quickly spread that the paper came from the Qur’an, and mobs began accusing Akaluka of blasphemy against Islam.
To prevent mob violence, the police arrested Gideon Akaluka and placed him in detention for his own safety while investigations continued. He was held in a police cell in Kano; however, anger continued to build, with radical youths and extremists vowing to take justice into their own hands.
On December 26, 1995, a mob of Muslim extremists, reportedly including soldiers from the local barracks, stormed the police station. They overpowered the security officers, broke into the cell, dragged Akaluka out, and brutally beheaded him, chanting ‘Allahu Akbar!’ gleefully.
His severed head was mounted on a stick and paraded across major streets in Kano, including Fagge and Kofar Wambai, in what the mob called a “victory parade.” The shocking act spread fear and deepened sectarian tensions between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria.
The Nigerian government, under General Sani Abacha, condemned the killing. Authorities arrested several suspects, including soldiers who had participated in the attack. Following a military tribunal, seven soldiers were court-martialed and executed by firing squad on Abacha’s orders.
However, one alleged participant and the mob leader, Sanusi Lamido (later Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former CBN Governor and Emir of Kano), was not executed. He reportedly escaped punishment, leading many to speculate that his influential background and royal connections played a role.
It was later revealed that the accusation was false, and Akaluka had never desecrated the Qur’an.
The beheading of Gideon Akaluka remains one of Nigeria’s most shocking and symbolic cases of religious violence. It highlighted:
– The fragility of religious coexistence in northern Nigeria
– The inability of security institutions to protect citizens in their custody
– The deadly consequences of mob justice driven by unverified allegations of blasphemy
Akaluka’s death has since been remembered alongside similar tragedies, including Mrs. Chioma Agbahime (2016) and Deborah Samuel (2022). Many other undocumented killings also serve as grim reminders of how religious intolerance and extremism continue to claim innocent lives in Nigeria.
Source - IgboHistofacts on X
