TheCable

Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto, on Friday, met with Muslim leaders in the state over the killing of Deborah Emmanuel, a female student at the Shehu Shagari College of Education.

The student was attacked by a mob over remarks considered to be an insult to Prophet Mohammed.

Videos of the student being stoned and beaten with sticks were shared on social media, and the incident was reported to have occurred in the early hours of Thursday.

In the wake of the incident, there was a flurry of condemnation from civil society organisations (CSOs), Muslim leaders and groups, most notably Muhammadu Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto.

Subsequently, the Sokoto governor called for a meeting of the state’s Islamic leaders in the government house.

TheCable understands that the meeting was convened to discuss how to ensure the student’s murder does not elicit violent reprisals.

The governor, who is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential hopeful, was said to have cancelled his consultation visits to Bayelsa, Delta and Edo states as a result of the incident.

A cross-section of the Sokoto Muslim leaders

The Sokoto police command had earlier announced the arrest of two suspects over their alleged involvement in the killing of Samuel.

Sanusi Abubakar, spokesman of the Sokoto police command, had provided an account of the incident.

“At about 0900hrs, a distress call was received from Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, stating that students were rioting over one female student named Deborah Samuel, a level two student, who was accused of making a social media post that blasphemed the holy prophet Muhammad (SAW),” he had said.

“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.”

Meanwhile, the school has been closed down pending the investigation of the incident.

Catriona Laing, the British high commissioner to Nigeria, has also called on the police “to ensure the perpetrators of this horrific act are made to face justice“.