Some students at the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto killed a female student named Deborah on Thursday, supposedly because she alleged Blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.
The person who died was stoned to death and then set on fire by a group of angry people, most of whom were college students.
Administrators of the college closed the school right away and told students to leave the campus.
Blasphemy: The Alleged Offense
The deceased, whose identity was unknown at the time of filing this article, was seen being viciously attacked in a video that went viral on social media until she fell and was set on fire.
She was accused of making derogatory statements (Blasphemy) against the prophet on WhatsApp.
A college student only known by her first name, Jamila, said that the event started on Wednesday when someone sent a broadcast message to a WhatsApp group of students, which Deborah, the student who was killed, was a part of.
Jamila explained that it was the kind of message that asked someone to share it with other people if they didn’t want evil to strike.
Deborah, who has since died, said that these kinds of messages shouldn’t be sent to a WhatsApp group that was set up to share important test and homework materials.
“Send us important information. This group was not created for you to send useless information. It was created for you to send past questions if there is a test or an assignment. It is not for you to send useless information. “
In a voice note she shared with the WhatsApp group, the late Deborah was recorded as saying,
“Which prophet?”
Although Jamila later deleted the voice note, she added that other members of the group had shared it with their classmates. It eventually created a tense atmosphere among the students on campus.
When the kids tried to mob Deborah, the school’s security men came to her aid. When things started to get out of hand, they called the police.
Ibrahim, a resident of Bado, the village where the college is based, said that the police couldn’t save Deborah because the crowd kept throwing rocks and other things at the police and the shelter where she was being held.
The mob also set fire to the shelter. It used to be a cell where school security kept criminals who were caught on campus.
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In response, the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto has been shut down indefinitely until the problem is resolved, as security has been tightened up in the school for fear of escalation.
The following is from a letter signed by School management:
