The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC has condemned in its entirety the killing of Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education Sokoto, over allegations of blasphemy.
This is contained in a statement signed by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Friday, describing the killing as outrageous, illegal and unlawful.
“A female student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Deborah Samuel, was on Thursday killed for allegedly blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The blasphemed statement was reportedly posted on a WhatsApp group. She was asked to withdraw the statement but she allegedly refused to do so. The school’s security unit and police were overwhelmed by the crowd when they tried to rescue her.
“MURIC strongly condemns this killing and all others that have been happening in Nigeria in recent times. Those aggrieved by the student’s post should have reported her to the security agencies or the Shariah police, the hizbah. Mob killing is archaic and bohemian. It belongs to the Stone Age. Nobody has the right to take the law into his hands.
“The Glorious Qur’an compares the killing of a single person to the killing of the whole of humanity just as it compares the saving of life to the rescue of all homo sapiens (Qur’an 5:32) In like manner, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself condemned all acts of violence and advocated peaceful conduct at all times.
“But this incident should not be condemned in isolation. The recent trend whereby Nigerians now freely shed their brother's blood should be condemned by all patriots. In this regard, we also strongly denounce the killing of several Northern Muslims in the South East in the past few months.
“We frown at the recent burning last week of a truck fully loaded with cows in the South East as well as the killing of many Muslims of South-East origin by their Igbo brothers in the same South East. We note with keen interest that Muslims in the North did not retaliate when these killings were taking place.
“MURIC calls on the Sokoto Police Command to do everything within its power to get to the bottom of yesterday’s killing of the female student over alleged blasphemy. We appeal to members of the public to remain calm and law-abiding. Nigerians should allow the police to carry out their investigations on the case. The Sokoto Police Command has started well as it already has two suspects in detention for the killing."
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