Muslim students stone Christian student to death
On Thursday, in the city of Sokoto, northwest of Nigeria, a mob of Muslim students stoned a Christian student to death and burnt her dead body after an alleged blasphemy against the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
The mob of Muslim students from the Shehu Shagari College of Education ambushed their fellow student, Deborah Samuel, who made a statement on social media which was considered offensive against the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
The “students forcefully removed the victim from the security room where she was hidden by the school authorities, killed her and burnt the building”, stated Mr. Sanusi Abubakar, a Sokoto police officer.
According to the police spokesperson, the students had “banded together with miscreants” and blocked the highway outside the school, an attempt to deter any police help.
Currently, the authorities have arrested two suspects after the violent incident.
The northern regions of Nigeria are known to observe strict Islamic Sharia.
According to the Islamic belief, blasphemy against their Prophet amounts to a death penalty under the Islamic Sharia.
One of the students by the name Babangida, accused the murdered student of posting “the offensive remark on a students’, WhatsApp group which everyone saw.”
“Muslim students in the school who were infuriated by her insult mobilized and beat her to death,” stated Babangida.
A video clip that has been circulating on the internet shows the murdered student in a pink dress laying down, while the mob keeps hurling rocks onto the corpse.
Others were stacking up used vehicle tires on top of the corpse while chanting, “Allahu Akbar,” (Arabic words meaning: god is great).
In the aftermath of the events, the state government has ordered the closure of the education institute with immediate effect, whereas the authorities have stated that all suspects in the video clip will be arrested.
Sources say that this is not the first time Muslim mobs have burnt people to death.
In 1996, a Muslim mob sneaked into Kano prison and killed a Christian, Gideon Akaluka who was accused of desecrating the Quran before displaying his severed head on a spike in a procession across the city.
In 2007, a Christian teacher in a predominantly Muslim secondary school in northeastern Gombe state, was killed by her students and her body burnt after they accused her of desecrating the Quran.
In 2016, a 74-year-old Christian trader, Bridget Agbahime was beaten to death by a Muslim mob outside her shop in Kano after accusing her of insulting their Prophet.
And just last year, a Muslim mob in the Darazo District in Bauchi State burnt a man to death for allegedly insulting the Islamic Prophet.
