The Story Behind Deborah Who Was Stoned to Death in Nigeria…
On Thursday, May 12th, Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a 22-year-old Christian college student in Nigeria, was slain for “blasphemy” after she posted a WhatsApp message praising Jesus with her Muslim classmates.
Deborah Samuel Yakubu was overjoyed after passing her examinations at the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Wamako, Sokoto State, Nigeria. In a voice message uploaded to a WhatsApp group, she remarked, “Jesus Christ is the greatest. He assisted me in passing my tests.” Deborah was later killed because of this message.
Yakubu was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Students, which is a sister organization to the Nigeria Fellowship of Evangelical Students. The organization works to establish a place for students to practice interdenominational Christianity on college campuses. She was a member of a WhatsApp group set up to discuss academic issues related to Home Economics and other courses.
Yakubu was replying to several Muslim students in the group who had published messages about Islam with her own message about Jesus. Other pupils have declined to repeat the “blasphemy” to the media, making it impossible to authenticate Deborah’s exact words. She may have also questioned the posts posted by others, claiming that the thread was intended for intellectual queries concerning education, not “nonsense” about Islam.
Yakubu was then threatened by her Muslim classmates, who took offense at her refusal to remove her messages. College administrators attempted to evacuate her, but she was hauled away and attacked by a gang of enraged men.
She was then lynched, with her body being burned after she was stoned to death. A video has gone viral in which a man tells the camera that he killed and burned a young woman. It is reported that the mob that lynched Yakubu was mainly comprised of her colleagues.
The heinous act was denounced by the institution. Open Doors’ representative in Nigeria, Jo Newhouse, said, “This is another tragic day for northern Nigeria’s Christians. We join Deborah’s family and the wider Christian community in mourning her death. We condemn in the strongest terms possible this vicious act and call on authorities to take swift action to identify the perpetrators and bring them to book.”
Reports from the Nigerian Police Force
Police have announced that two individuals have been apprehended in connection with the murder, prompting protests in Muslim-majority Sokoto. These protests became violent on Saturday, May 14th. Rioters with machetes, knives, and rods singing Islamic prayers demanded the release of the two defendants apprehended by police.
Shops have been plundered and destroyed, and churches have been attacked and vandalized. Some protesters have surrounded the palace of Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and Nigeria’s greatest spiritual figure among Muslims.
The Sultan is one of several religious leaders, both Christian and Muslim, who have criticized the atrocity. In a news release, he stated that he “condemned the incident in its totality and has urged security agencies to bring perpetrators of the unjustifiable incident to justice.
” Just as Sokoto Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah asserted, “The only obligation that is owed to late Deborah’s immediate family, her fellow students, and the school authorities is the assurance that those who are guilty of the inhuman act, no matter their motivation, are punished according to the extant laws of the land.”
The government imposed a 24-hour curfew, which many people have ignored. Sokoto Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal advised the demonstrators to please return home in the interest of peace.
