Alleged blasphemy: 87 days after Deborah’s mob killing, Sokoto reopens College of Education

The Governing Council of Shehu Shagari College of Education, has at its 79th meeting, held Friday, approved the reopening of the College on Monday, August 8, 2022.

The College was shut down indefinitely by Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal about 87 days ago after a mob killed and set ablaze Ms. Deborah Samuel, an NCE 2 student of the Home Economics department of the College for alleged blasphemy.

The decision to reopen the institution was contained in a statement signed by the College’s Registrar, Malam Gandi Muhammad Asara.

According to the statement, all students of both NCE and Degree programmes are to report to the College to sign an undertaking between Monday 8th and Thursday 11th August, 2022.

Recall that the late Deborah Samuel was killed and set ablaze by a mob suspected to made up of her fellow students after her response to an issue in a WhatsApp group of her class was said to have been blasphemous.

Deborah’s gruesome murder elicited widespread national and international condemnation.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and many others condemned the action, and Governor Tambuwal ordered the closure of the College as well as imposed curfew when a riot broke out.

Some alleged perpetrators of the crime were arrested and charged to court, but nothing has been heard of the case since then.