TWENTY-FOUR hours after the killing of a student, Deborah Samuel, in Sokoto State over alleged blasphemy, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly have remained silent.
Deborah, a 200-level Home Economics student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto State, was killed by a mob for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammed.
Checks by The ICIR on the official social media profiles of Buhari on Facebook and Twitter showed that the President has not commented on the killing.
Also, the official profiles of the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives show that the federal lawmakers have not reacted to the killing of the student.
When The ICIR contacted a presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, for Buhari’s position on the killing, he replied with a terse message that it would be known.
“You will have it,” he said in a text message.
The Government of the United Kingdom (UK) through its High Commissioner in Nigeria, has condemned Deborah’s murder.
The ICIR had reported that some youths in Sokoto stoned and burnt the female student to death for what they believed is blasphemy against the Islamic Prophet Muhammed.
In viral videos seen by The ICIR Deborah, who was in a pink dress, was lying unconscious on the floor while she was being mobbed.
After a while, the youths chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ set her on fire using motor tyres.
One of the persons in the video confirmed he was part of those who mobbed and burnt her. He noted he struck the match that led to the fire.
“I am the one who killed her; I burnt her,” he said in Hausa language while displaying a box of matches in his hand.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94