The Police have arraigned two suspects, Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci over the lynching of a 200-Level Home Economics student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Deborah Samuel.
The suspects, co-students of the deceased, were docked at a Sokoto State Chief Magistrate’s Court for their alleged participation in the crime.
They both pleaded not guilty to the crime.
Prosecuting Inspector Khalil Musa told the court that an investigation was in progress as Deborah Samuel’s corpse was still in a morgue at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto.
Leading a team of 34 lawyers, the defence counsel, Prof. Mansur Ibrahim, applied for their bail on liberal terms citing the constitutional provisions and sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
The trial judge (name withheld for security reasons) reserved the ruling on the bail application and ordered the accused to be remanded at a correctional centre.
Before she was lynched, Deborah Samuel was accused of denigrating Islam on a WhatsApp chat platform set up by her coursemates and refused to retract her post after she was asked to pull it down.
She was later accosted by some of her coursemates over the post but was rescued by the School security opeartives who kept at her at the Security post.
Her coursenmates allegedly organised a mob who attacked the Secuirty post, forcefully take custody of her and beat her to a pulp.
She later died of her injuries and her lifeless body was set ablaze by the mob and they watched and filmed as she was burnt beyond recognition.
The Police later moved in to arrest the two prime suspects in the protest with a view to charging them for the lynching.
A violent street protest followed the arrest of the suspects linked to the lynching of Deborah Samuel on Saturday during which the protesters demanded the immediate release of the prime suspects by security operatives.
Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, consequently imposed a 24-hour curfew on Sokoto metropolis on Saturday to put a stop to the violent protests which had degenerated into arson and attack on places of worship.
He has since relaxed the curfew early on Monday which is now to be observed from dawn to dusk.
