By Men of the Sokoto State Police Command have arrested two persons involved in the killing of a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, over alleged blasphemy.
The police spokesperson in the state, ASP Sanusi Abubakar confirmed the development in a statement on Thursday.
“At about 0900hrs, a distress call was received from the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, stating that students were rioting over one female student named Deborah Samuel, a NCE 2 student, who was accused of making a social media post that blasphemed the holy prophet Muhammad (SAW),” the statement read in part.
“Students forcefully removed the victim from the security room where she was hidden by the school authorities, killed her and burnt the building. The students banded together with miscreants and barricaded the Sokoto/Jega road.
“Upon receiving the information, the DC Operations led a team of policemen and all other operational commanders in the state to the school, where the road was cleared and the situation was brought under control.
“Two students were arrested in connection with the crime committed. The school has been closed down by the school authority, and policemen were deployed to give tight security coverage.”
Social media went into frenzy after news broke out that the late student, identified as Deborah, in the early hours of Thursday, was reportedly set ablaze by an angry mob over remarks considered to be an insult to Prophet Mohammed. A video capturing the tragic incident has since gone viral.
Reacting to the incident, the college ordered the indefinite closure of its campus and directed all students to vacate the premises immediately.
Meanwhile, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has condemned the killing in its totality, and urged the security agencies to bring perpetrators of the unjustifiable incident to justice.
