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 were 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.

The rights group expressed shock and disappointment that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has forgotten about her case and was obviously unconcerned about the brazen injustice being meted out to her family.

In a statement, the National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said there was no known excuse why it has been one year after Deborah was killed by some extremist Muslim students over alleged blasphemy of the Islamic religion, and yet the Nigeria Police Force is saying that it was 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 the media, that the deceased 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.

The rights group recalled that viral videos of Deborah being stoned, beaten with sticks and immolated by some of her Muslim colleagues was shared widely on all social media platforms. HURIWA then wondered why it was taking eternity for law enforcement agencies to successfully track down the killers of Deborah.

The group 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 was no known proof that the matter wass 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. HURIWA accused the Sokoto State government, alongside all the security forces of colluding to hide this crime. However, HURIWA has vowed that nobody associated with this injustice would 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 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 accused the Sokoto State Police Command of speaking from both sides of their mouth if they insist that they couldn’t arrest those killers who were clearly captured on the videos that became viral on the Internet. It also stated 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.

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