Afenifere condemns murder of Sokoto student, seeks justice

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has condemned the killers of Deborah Samuel, a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto State.

The student was said to have been attacked by a mob over comments purportedly considered to be an insult to Prophet Mohammed.

A video of the student being stoned and beaten with sticks was shared on social media, and the incident was said to have occurred in the early hours of Thursday.

Afenifere in a press statement on Friday signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, stated that the victim did do anything wrong to warrant such death.

The Yoruba organization lamented that actions bordering on religious intolerance have been occurring often, particularly in the North, with innocent lives lost.

Read also: British high commissioner demands justice for Deborah

Afenifere said that the failure of the state to take drastic actions against the perpetrators of such acts was what was making it happen often.

It applauded Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal for terminating his meeting in Abuja and rushed to Sokoto over the incident.

The organisation, however, called on the authorities to go beyond platitudes by ensuring that all the perpetrators of the evil act are brought to book. And to take measures to prevent a re-occurrence of such incidents in our midst.

“The best one could do is to preach, evangelize and spread the gospel and not to coerce or kill for the purpose of forcing others to embrace one’s own religion.”

“This Deborah Tragedy must be used as a cue to put a permanent stop to faith-induced murder in our land”, part of the statement read.