The Nigeria Police Force, Sokoto State Command, confessed that the accused detained for burning a Christian female student, Deborah Samuel, for blasphemy were charged with “inciting and disruption.”
The leadership informed SaharaReporters on Wednesday that the police had “done its own part” if the court acquitted the accused.
In an interview about Deborah Samuel and Usman Buda, a butcher slain at the Sokoto Modern Abattoir at Mahuta Market, Rufai Ahmad, the state Police Public Relations Officer, said this.
A crowd beat and burned Emmanuel, a female student at Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, on May 12, 2023, for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad.
A few days later, a Sokoto State Magistrate Court detained Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci for her murder.
The suspects denied murdering the dead in court, SaharaReporters said.
The court acquitted them.
The police spokeswoman said, “On Deborah’s problem, officers have done their own part by arraigning persons in court. They were arrested for inciting disruption, which is bailable. We took action by charging them. We don’t care whether the court acquitted them.
“Ask the court. We contributed.”
On May 18, 2023, SaharaReporters reported that court papers showed how the alleged murders of College of Education student Deborah Emmanuel were released when Nigerian police prosecutors failed to appear in court.
Chief Magistrate Shuaibu Ahmad, Esq. released the accused in a five-page court ruling on January 30, 2023 at the Chief Magistrate Court I Gutwa, Sokoto.
Criminal conspiracy and inciting public disorder carried a maximum two-year sentence.
SaharaReporters visited the Abattoir market a week after hardline Muslims stoned a butcher, Usman Buda, to death over an alleged blasphemous statement. The merchants and store owners refused to discuss the incident.
SaharaReporters speculated that the merchants’ reluctance to discuss the incident with journalists may be due to the situation’s sensitivity and Sokoto’s conservatism.
The Buda case police spokeswoman stated, “We met that guy helpless, unconscious. Investigations continue. It requires caution. To prevent mishaps throughout the inquiry, it must be done vividly.
