The killing of Deborah Samuel had drawn condemnation from the Christian community and general public, and four days after, the Sokoto police arrested two suspects.
Nigeria appears to be a place that no value is placed on the lives of the citizens. If a person is mobbed to death, it will only take few months for everyone to walk free.
Sad, but that is what we now see, after a young girl was murdered.
Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was killed on May 12, 2022 by fellow students.
The Christian girl allegedly blasphemed against prophet Muhammed, and this drew the ire of her classmates who were Muslims.
They reacted by gathering a mob of angry Muslims to stone her to death, burn her body afterwards and then celebrate it.
The incident drew condemnation from the Christian community and general public, and four days after, the Sokoto police arrested two suspects.
Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunchi, two students of the college, were arrested and arraigned at a Chief Magistrate Court in the Gwiwa area of the state.
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New court documents have, however, shown that the police failed to diligently prosecute the matter, and the suspects were set free.
The Statement
M. B. Abdallah, the lawyer of the two suspects, told the court on January 30 that Khalid Musa, the prosecution inspector, was “conspicuously absent”.
Abdallah told the court that Musa was also absent from court on December 29, 2022.
He said: “Since the arraignment of the defendants in May 2022 last year, there was never a time the defendants failed to come to the court for their trial, but on the contrary, the prosecution are always absent, and where they are present, they are always not serious in prosecuting this case”.
The court granted the lawyer’s prayers and set the suspects free.
No other suspects have been identified since, and Deborah’s family have been denied justice one year after the unfortunate incident.
