The Sokoto Police Command, on Monday, arraigned two suspects, Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci, before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in the state over their roles in the killing of a 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Deborah Samuel.
This is as condemnation continued to trail the death of the 200-level student, who was lynched for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad (PHUB) on Friday.
Her killing had sparked outrage across the country, with Nigerians asking the government to fish out the perpetrators of the crime.
In the First Information Report, Prosecuting Police Officer,. Khalil Musa, said the suspects were accused of participating in a disturbance act that led to the death of Samuel on May 12, 2022.
Musa said investigation was in progress and the deceased corpse had been deposited at the morgue of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto
When the charges were read, the accused men pleaded not guilty.
The defence counsel, Prof. Mansur Ibrahim, who led 34 other lawyers to court, urged the court to grant the accused bail on liberal terms, citing constitutional provisions and sections Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
The trial judge (name and court location withheld for security reasons) reserved ruling on the bail application and ordered the accused to be remanded in a correctional custody.
The PUNCH reports that the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, had imposed a 24-hour curfew on Sokoto after a protest to demand the release of the suspects turned violent.
However, in a statement signed by his Commissioner for Information, Isah Bajini Galadanci, on Monday, the state governor announced a review of the curfew from 24 hours to dusk to dawn.
The statement read, “The revised curfew will now be from dusk to dawn in Sokoto township. This is with a view to afford people the window to pursue their legitimate businesses and other means of livelihood. The Government, however, advised people to maintain peace in this regard, as it will not condone any breach of law and order in the state.”
Bakare condemns killing
A presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress and senior pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, Tunde Bakare, while reacting to the murder, noted that no human, especially a Nigerian, deserves to be subjected to such inhumanity by his fellow citizens.
Bakare, who spoke in a statement on Monday, said he received the news of Samuel’s gruesome killing with deep distress, adding that the Koran does not justify such killing.
He said, “As one who was a devout Muslim and who read the Koran from cover to cover, what was done to Deborah Samuel is nowhere justified in the religion of peace that was handed down to me by my grandfather who was the first Chief Imam of Iporo Sodeke Mosque in Abeokuta.”
The cleric condoled with the deceased family, praying that they “find in God the comfort and fortitude to bear this great loss.”
The fiery preacher explained further that when he heard about the unrest that broke out in Sokoto after the arrest of two suspects, he placed a call to Bishop Matthew Kukah to ask about his safety.
Bakare noted that contrary to the news making the rounds in some quarters, he was reassured that Kukah’s residence and the cathedral were not set ablaze.
Meanwhile, the Majeobaje Community Development, in a statement signed by the Convener, Akintayo Akin-Deko, and Team Leader (Publicity and Sensitisation), Yomi Layinka, has joined the call for justice for the deceased.
The community said Nigeria, being a secular country, is united and governed by its constitution, therefore, it is “an affront on all Nigerians for any person or group – no matter how influential – to misinterpret religious law and then use it to take another person’s life extrajudicially.”
Majeobaje, therefore, urged the Sokoto State government to ensure that justice is done by placing investigation into the incident in the hands of an Independent Judicial Commission.
CCC calls for calm as protesters raze church
The Spiritual Head of Celestial Church of Christ worldwide, Reverend Emmanuel Oshoffa, has urged Christians across the country to embrace peace following the apprehension that greeted Samuel’s death.
This is as he warned members of his church not to seek revenge following the destruction of a CCC Parish III among other churches in the state by irate youths protesting the arrest of suspects in connection with Samuel’s death.
Meanwhile, a Lagos-based organisation, the Christian Conscience Group, has joined other Christian faithful and well-meaning Nigerians in condemning Samuel’s killing.
In a statement jointly signed by its National Chairman, Mrs Yetunde Akinluyi, and the National General Secretary, Revd Kolawole Verralls, the group noted that religion, as well as the law, does not accept jungle justice.
The group also called on “all political and religious leaders to always ensure they give proper training and education to their teeming youths who have been brainwashed on fanatical issues instead of moving upwards as the world is progressing. The time has come to constructively engage your counterparts on the need to properly train their children so as to ensure lasting peace in Nigeria.”
Also, the Senator representing Bayelsa West in the National Assembly, Seriake Dickson, called on all Nigerians in positions of authority and those hoping to assume leadership to condemn Samuel’s murder.
Dickson added that all those involved in the heinous act should be made to face justice as their action violates the laws of the land.
This is as he commended the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III; Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi; Governor Aminu Tambuwal; the Catholic Arch Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah, and others for preventing reprisal actions.
On his part, the Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, described Samuel’s killing as a crime not only against the Christian community but humanity at large.
Speaking during a security meeting at the Government House in Lafia on Monday, Sule appealed to the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria not to join the planned protest on May 22, 2022, by the Christian community across the country, saying that both the federal and Sokoto state governments were taking steps to address the matter.
He said, “I want to appeal to leaders of CAN in the state not to join the protest because of the fragile nature of Nasarawa State and the fear that hoodlums may eventually hijack the peaceful protest and to throw the state into anarchy.”
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