- By Femi Alabi
Amnesty International has said that blasphemy is being used in Nigeria to target religious minorities, pursue personal vendettas, and carry out vigilante violence.
The Organisation on its official X handle called on the Nigerian Government to ensure that the killers of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto are brought to book.
Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a second-year Christian college student, was stoned to death by a mob of Muslim students in Sokoto, Nigeria, after being accused of blasphemy against IslamOn the 12th of May 2022.
Amnesty International in its post querried why it took so long for government to get justice for Deborah saying evidence abounds with the flagrant display of disdain for life in video footage of how she was killed.
Amnesty wrote, “Deborah Samuel was lynched by her school mates over alleged blasphemy on 12 May 2022 in #Sokoto. More than a year after, the Nigerian authorities have failed to hold her killers to account:
“In a flagrant show of utter disdain for the sanctity of life and impunity, a video footage of a raging fire and a man facing the camera, bragging that he killed and burnt Deborah Samuel — while also brandishing a matchbox — was widely shared on social media.
“Since the lynching of Deborah, at least two persons: Ahmad Usman and Usman Buda have been killed over alleged blasphemy.
“In Nigeria, blasphemy is being used to target religious minorities, pursue personal vendettas, and carry out vigilante violence”.
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