The Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), chaired by human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana has demanded justice for a female student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education in‪ Sokoto State, Deborah Yakubu after she was killed for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

SaharaReporters had reported how Deborah was violently stoned to death and later set ablaze by the angry mob, who are mostly students of the college.

“Send us important information. This group was not created for you to send useless information. It was created for you to send past questions if there is a test or an assignment. It is not for you to send useless information. Which prophet?” the late Deborah was quoted to have stated this in a voice note she shared to the WhatsApp group.

Reacting in a statement, ASCAB urged the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal and other relevant stakeholders to ensure justice is served in the matter.

According to the group, out of the 190 victims subjected to mob justice and killed in Nigeria in the last two years, Sokoto is ahead of other states with 13 cases.

The statement read, “The brutal killing and burning of Deborah Yakubu, a level two student of the Shagari College of Education, Sokoto by mentally deranged fellow students for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed deserve the total condemnation of all well-meaning people of Nigeria.

“It is particularly sad that the dastardly act took place in the presence of a team of security operatives who apparently colluded with the culprits in subjecting the deceased to jungle justice.

“We are not unaware that the Sokoto State Government has ordered the immediate closure of the college and directed the Ministry of Higher Education and relevant Security agencies in the State ‘to commence investigations into the remote and immediate causes of the incident and report back to the Government’.

“However, since the barbaric incident was well recorded in the viral video on Twitter that is in circulation the culprits ought to have been identified, arrested and arraigned in the Sokoto State High Court.

“It is on record that out of the 190 victims/citizens subjected to mob justice and killed in Nigeria in the last two years, Sokoto State is ahead of other states with 13 cases. It is indisputable that the criminal negligence of the nation’s security agencies to bring the perpetrators to justice in the recent past must have contributed to the barbaric killing of Deborah Yakubu.

“We are therefore compelled to call on the Governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, a senior lawyer and a member of the Body of Benchers to adopt drastic measures to put an end to the official impunity that has turned Sokoto State into a land of religious intolerance and mob justice by ensuring that those who murdered Deborah Yakubu in cold murder. The implementation of such drastic measures will curb the criminality of other bloodthirsty extremists in the state.”