A student, known as Deborah, of the Shehu Shagari College of Education in‪ Sokoto has been beaten and burnt to death by her colleagues for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad (SAW), on Thursday, May 11.

According to multiple reports, the Muslim students dragged her out of her hostel.

You will recall the story of a Nigerian atheist who was sentenced to 24 years in prison, in April, by a high court in Kano after being convicted of blaspheming Islam.

Mubarak Bala, 37, president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, pleaded guilty to all 18 charges and asked for leniency. He has been in detention since 2020.

The story of the deceased student has enraged Nigerians who have started conversations on religion and the religious standpoint of the people of Northern Nigeria. But, there are arguments that it is not religious and has nothing to do with Islam and is just an unwarranted and illegal reaction from extremists.

In a video of the incident, young Nigerian men hurled stones at her. Some also used sticks and different objects to hit her.

When she fell to the ground and went unconsciously, the attackers gathered tyres around her before and set her ablaze.

Deborah was said to have made a reported ‘blasphemous’ comment on a WhatsApp group.

According to Daily Trust, “She was asked to apologise but refused and this heightened tension in the school. The college security personnel had to intervene by whisking her to their office but they were overwhelmed by students, who later set her ablaze.”

The Commissioner of Information, Isa Bajini Galadanchi, said Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal had ordered that the school be shut and directed the Ministry of Higher Education and relevant security agencies to investigate the matter.

“The Governor has called on the people of the state to remain calm and maintain peace as the government would take appropriate actions on the findings of the investigation,” Bajini said.

Nigerians react:

@TheFavoredWoman: In a higher institution of learning, they stoned, clubbed & burned another human-like them to death in defence of a religious diety. A “College of Education”. Where teachers & shapers of young minds are trained. If this doesn’t make you lose all hope i don’t know what will.

@aproko_doctor: Video of that female student murdered in Sokoto by a mob for “religious reasons” is proof that we have a long way to go in this country. Her murderers made a video about it, knowing that nothing will happen to them. They’d even be praised in certain quarters. The year is 2022.

@Letter_to_Jack: Angry student mob stoned a Christian female student till she could no longer move and they burned her alive for allegedly criticising prophet Muhammad. Let it be known that this happened in Sokoto State, Northern Nigeria on the 12th of May, 2022.

@OgbeniDipo: Some of the faces of the criminal religious fanatics and animals who stoned and burnt a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto today were visible. I hope arrests are made and they get prosecuted.

@AishaYesufu: Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun. What manner of barbarism just happened in Sokoto? Who the hell are you to take someone’s life? The Prophet (SAW) went to visit a man that usually insult & pour debris on him when the man was ill. Nigeria keeps producing serial killers! Oghenna!

@HustleUthman_: WHAT HAPPENED IN SOKOTO IS NOT ISLAM. They is not even a single verse in the Holy Quran that says you should burn someone if he causes the prophet, punishment with FIRE is prohibited in Islam, so all I wanna say is those people don’t practise Islam, they should be arrested.

The school has been shut by the Sokoto government, and an investigation has begun, but the fundamental problem will stay if justice is not served because there will not be a lesson for other extremists.