{"id":2679,"date":"2022-05-19T10:15:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T10:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/?p=2679"},"modified":"2022-05-19T10:34:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T10:34:54","slug":"killing-of-college-student-in-sokoto-raises-intolerance-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/killing-of-college-student-in-sokoto-raises-intolerance-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Killing of College Student in Sokoto Raises Intolerance Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Thursday, 12<sup>th<\/sup> May 2022, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Deborah Yakubu was killed by her fellow students who accused her of \u2018blasphemy\u2019. According to reports, Deborah had in response to some postings on her class WhatsApp page, burst out asking her classmates to desist from posting religious messages on the platform, noting that the platform was created for studying and educational purposes. Her classmates, some of whom were muslims did not take kindly to what they considered to be an insult on the Holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW). In an unclear sequence of events, Deborah was accosted by her classmates, beaten and set ablaze. In video footages that went viral on the internet, some students of the College boasted that she had been taught a lesson. Some of the students even came out claiming responsibility for her killing. There was apprehension throughout Sokoto, with protests reported. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The killing of Deborah has\nbeen condemned throughout the country, with civil liberties advocates calling\nfor the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of the act. In apparent\nresponse, two suspects were arrested &#8211; Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunchi, and\narraigned before a Sokoto Chief Magistrate Court on 16<sup>th<\/sup> May 2022.\nThey were reported to have been charged with the offences of criminal\nconspiracy and inciting public disturbance. The charges against the suspects\nhave however been criticised. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other\ncivil groups have criticised the charges, describing them as flimsy. According\nto the NBA, the charges fail to recognise the gravity of the offence of murder\nthat was committed. Part of its statement read thus: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<em>We are, however, worried\nby yet-to-be confirmed reports reaching us that the suspects have been charged\nwith mere breach of public peace in an episode that cut short Deborah\u2019s life in\nher prime<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NBA and civil groups have\nalso called on the Sokoto State government to review its prosecution strategy\nand arraign additional suspects for the offence, especially those caught on\nvideo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The action of the suspects who\nled a mob to stone and burn Deborah to death is&nbsp;\ndespicable, reprehensible, primitive and perpetrated by ignorant,\nreligious fundamentalists and should not be condoned in any country. Observers expect that\nthe Sokoto State government will spread a wider security drag net to\napprehend and diligently prosecute all other persons involved in the lynching\nand stoning to death of Deborah Yakubu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Nigerians ought to\nexercise greater sensitivity and respect for the various religions in the\ncountry, there is an important need for those who feel offended by the actions\nof others to respond only in line with the provisions of the law and follow due\nlegal process for perceived infringement of their rights. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, 12th May 2022, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Deborah Yakubu was killed by her fellow students who accused her of \u2018blasphemy\u2019. According to reports, Deborah had in response to some postings on her class WhatsApp page, burst out asking her classmates to desist from posting religious messages on the platform, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2679"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2687,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679\/revisions\/2687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}