Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on the Sokoto State government under Governor Aminu Tambuwal to ensure a sharp dispensation of justice in the murder of Deborah Samuel.
HURIWA also denounced the Police and DSS whose operatives reportedly witnessed the mob action meted out to the girl accused of heresy by Islamic extremists in May 2022. She was a 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto.
Aggravated by what appeared like sweeping crime under the carpet, the rights group warned of the profound implications of letting murderers walk freely in the streets of Nigeria by a democratically elected Sokoto State government.
The group, in a statement, said: “The loud silence by governor Aminu Tambuwal on this despicable, primitive, irrational, vexations crime against humanity and the deliberate lack of information to the general public on this matter, is a severe blight on the public image of the Sokoto State governor, who for many years was a senior national legislator and even became a Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives.
“Deborah Samuel was a Christian who went to find knowledge in Sokoto, the citadel of learning but was killed over purported blasphemy by an unruly mob in the presence of law enforcement agents. The Sokoto State governor even put up a flimsy excuse for the armed security operatives’ inability or unwillingness to disperse the killer mob that killed Deborah and thereby watched until the young innocent Northern Christian girl was lynched to her death and her remains set alight.”
The group said if the Sokoto State governor is unable to resolve this unique but disturbing case of murder as soon as possible, Civil Society Organisations will approach the international community to take steps to compel the governor to fish out the killers for appropriate justice in line with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.