Talk:Lynching of Deborah Yakubu

A fact from Lynching of Deborah Yakubu appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 1 June 2022 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that "What do you hope to achieve with this?" were the last words of the Nigerian college student Deborah Yakubu while being lynched for alleged blasphemy?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2022/June. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Lynching of Deborah Yakubu.

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Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 22:25, 23 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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Article history

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... that "What do you hope to achieve with this?" were the last words of the Nigerian college student Deborah Yakubu while she was being lynched for her alleged blasphemy? Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/05/deborahs-last-words-as-she-pleaded-for-mercy-what-do-you-hope-to-achieve-with-this/
- Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Lancelot Lawton
- Comment: I am not sure I would need QPQ , still any ways by now I am comfortable with review process so noted one.

Created by Mooonswimmer (talk). Nominated by Bookku (talk) at 05:15, 15 May 2022 (UTC).[reply]

Article is new, well over the minimum size requirement, and original (quoted text is appropriately marked and attributed). It is written in an encyclopedic style with inline citations apart from the Background section. QPQ done: if this is only your second DYK nomination, you didn't need to do a review, but thank you for doing one. The hook is succinct, interesting, properly formatted, and present in the article with an inline citation. This needs citations for the Background section but once that's done it's good to go. Thank you for documenting this awful event. MartinPoulter (talk) 15:31, 19 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The issues have now been fixed (apologies @Mooonswimmer: for tagging the wrong editor and thanks for your help) and this hook is good to go. MartinPoulter (talk) 09:19, 20 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
MartinPoulter, is it appropriate to call this a lynching and a murder in our own voice? Urve (talk) 21:22, 20 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
It is okay for me to add ' according to Vanguard (Nigeria), ' if needed. Bookku, 'Encyclopedias = expanding information & knowledge' (talk) 01:01, 21 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Well, (1) if we can't call someone's death a lynching in our own voice, then the article needs to be renamed, and (2) no, that's insufficient, since Vanguard is not being used for some of the murder claims (eg CNN is used to support the murder claim, despite them never even saying the word murder in their own voice, or even saying that the video was authentic). Urve (talk) 01:15, 21 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@ Urve, I do respectfully submit that your arguments are quite amazing and I do not want to get into any arguments against as of now since I have not developed the article. Can you provide your suggestion in format Change 'X' by 'Y'. Shall sincerely revisit as much from your point of view as much possible. Thanks and warm regards Bookku, 'Encyclopedias = expanding information & knowledge' (talk) 17:18, 22 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

"Tone. where are the removed statements in the sources?"

@Urve

I commend you for your attentiveness.

Within the college premises, a mob of fellow students stoned Yakubu and beat her with planks before dumping tires on her and setting them on fire. Her body was burnt beyond recognition. A witness said her last words were "What do you hope to achieve with this?", among her pleas for mercy.

I've fixed addressed the sourcing issues for "before dumping tires on her and setting them on fire", "body was burnt beyond recognition", and I've replaced "planks" with sticks, as per most of the sources.

"Among her pleas for mercy". Was this removed because of a problem with tone? Mooonswimmer 10:20, 21 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Yes, pleas for mercy are about tone. I think we need to consider whether words like lynching and murder are appropriately neutral, and don't say that living people are guilty of a crime they haven't been convicted of. Urve (talk) 11:07, 21 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Urve for pushing on this. I hadn't seen WP:DEATHS so wasn't aware of that flowchart. I didn't see a problem with "Lynching" because the event described meets the definition of lynching, but according to that guideline, "Killing" is the appropriate word. MartinPoulter (talk) 09:39, 26 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This is going on the main page soon and still has this title. With a hook that is just a witness statement. Cool cool. Urve (talk) 12:31, 31 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding this, no. It is not in the source's own voice; it is what a witness said, which they then reported, with attribution. See my edit which adds failed verification tags with reasoning. To elaborate on the "is that balanced" question, what makes a very short essay, without an author, more reliable and definitive than Al Jazeera? Al Jazeera uses other sources to make its point. If sources disagree on the frequency - as here - then why can we say that it "frequently" happens? Urve (talk) 12:30, 31 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Refs

Blasphemy: Deborah Samuel’s parents break silence, make shocking revelations, Priscilla Dennis, Priscilla Dennis, dailypost.ng

Bookku, 'Encyclopedias = expanding information & knowledge' (talk) 06:48, 19 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]