Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy Group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has described as a state sponsored terrorism, the stoning to death for her Christian faith in Sokoto of the female Student of Shehu Shagari College of Education Miss Deborah Samuel Yakubu over a year ago.
HURIWA said the Sokoto state government, the Nigeria Police Force, Sokoto State command and the Sokoto state Directorate of the Department of State Services are obviously acting a well written conspiratorial script to allow the suspected killers of this innocent Niger State born Christian girl killed in the broad daylight, to escape the so-called long arm of the law just as the Rights group expressed shock and disappointment that the Christian Association of Nigeria has forgotten about her case and are obviously unconcerned about the brazen injustice being meted out to her family.
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the National Coordinator of the civil society organisation- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said there is no known excuse why it has been one year after a female student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto State, Deborah (Samuel) Yakubu, was killed by some extremist Muslim students over alleged blasphemy of the Islamic religion, and yet the Nigeria Police Force is saying that it is still on the trail of prime suspects culpable in the immolation.
HURIWA recalled that the Police Public Relations Officer, Sokoto State Police Command, Abubakar Sanusi, confirmed the development during a telephone interview with a media reporter just as the deceased, a 200-level student was set ablaze on May 12, 2022, after she reportedly advised her classmates against posting religious contents on their department’s WhatsApp group which was created for academic purposes.
Tje Rights group recalled that a Videos of Deborah being stoned, beaten with sticks and immolated by some of her Muslim colleagues, which was seen by our correspondent, was shared widely on all social media platforms. HURIWA then wondered why it is taking eternity for the so-called law enforcement agencies of the Police, the DSS, the Civil Defence, the Nigerian Customs, the Nigerian Immigration Services,to successfully track down the killers of Deborah who did this unthinkable brutal murderous act in the daylight in full view of the relevant security institutions aforementioned whose members present at her public stoning were armed but failed to save Deborah Samuel Yakubu from the murderous crowd only because she was a Christian. HURIWA said the Sokoto State government has deliberately delayed the prosecution of any of the suspects arrested and may have released those reportedly arrested because there is no known proof that the matter is proceeding at the said Magistrate Court and yet the murderers haven’t been transferred to a state High Court that has jurisdictions over such a heinous crime of illegal and gruesome public execution of a citizen. HURIWA accused the Sokoto state government alongside all the security forces of colluding to hide this crime under the carpet of impunity but the group has vowed that nobody associated with this injustice will escape public scrutiny all their lives.
Besides, few days after the incident, the police announced the arrest of two suspects; Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci, in connection to Deborah’s murder, and they were arraigned on May 16, 2022, at the Sokoto Chief Magistrate Court for their alleged participation in the crime. However, a total number of 34 lawyers led by one Professor Mansur Ibrahim, allegedly sponsored by some public figures, stormed the court in defence of the suspected killers.
HURIWA recalled the PPRO, DSP Sanusi, as saying that the police were still on the trail of some of the prime suspects, adding that several arrests had been made in connection to Deborah’s death.
The Police spokesman in Sokoto had said thus: “We’re still on the trail of some of the prime suspects in connection with the murder. However, we have made arrest, and we’ve charged all the arrested suspects to court since then. The case is at the Chief Magistrate Court 1 in Sokoto, and the arraigned suspects were/are remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sokoto State Correctional Centre since 2022.”
HURIWA accused the Sokoto State Police Command of speaking from both sides of their mouth if they insists that they couldn’t arrest those killers who were clearly captured on the videos that became viral on the Internet. HURIWA also stayed that because the policing institution governed principally by Muslims backed the execution of Deborah otherwise the State Commissioner at the time the terrorist act of publicly stoning her to death could have been administratively sanctioned for failing to stop this brazen crime that took place in the market place with armed security operatives witnessing the crime without intervening.
