By Goodluck Ikiebe.
One of the classmates of Deborah Samuel, known as Rakia, has revealed the last word the deceased made before male Muslims of the Shehu Shagari College Education, Sokoto killed her.
Deborah, a 200 level student in the Department of Home Economics of the institution was killed on Thursday for allegedly “making blasphemous statements about Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
Rakia said the last word of the deceased was ‘what do you hope to achieve with this? She pleaded for mercy and called out for help but it was far from her.
Narrating the incident, she said Deborah was flogged, killed, and burnt and it was the most horrible thing she has ever witnessed.
“Deborah was my course mate. I just stepped into the class when the uproar on her voice note started.
”It was her own coursemates that started it. One of them said Deborah dared them by refusing to apologise when she was asked to.
“It all started with a debate on the upcoming examination on a general WhatsApp platform created for our coursemates.
“One of the students asked her how she passed the last Semester’s examination and in response, she said it was ‘Jesus o.’
“Immediately, about three other chats came in from two Muslims and one Christian, telling her to retract the statement.
“Two students from other departments, who overheard some Muslim boys discussing the matter told Deborah’s close friends to prevail on her to retract the statement.
“But she replied via a voice note on the platform, ‘Holy Ghost fire. Nothing will happen to me”.
”Is it by force that you guys will always be sending this religious stuff in this group? The group wasn’t created for that but rather as a notice on tests, assignments, exams, etc, not these nonsense religious posts’
“We were made to understand that some young men were brought from outside before the outrage. I was in class when some of our coursemates rushed in, saying ‘there is fire on the mountain o’.
Rakia further stated that the Muslim students led the strangers to the class to look for her, adding that some classmates tried to help Deborah escape as they had gotten a cab waiting outside to drive her straight to the police station but unfortunately, the mob overpowered everyone, who tried to save her.
”The last word in her mouth was ‘what do you hope to achieve with this?’ By then some of our coursemates were making calls to some of our lecturers to save the situation.
“It was when I got home that I heard she was set ablaze. Since the incident, I have been having a flash of her pleading expression. She pleaded for mercy and called out for help but it was far from her. What a cruel way to die,” she said.
The remains of Deborah Samuel, who was burnt to death in Sokoto last Thursday over alleged blasphemy, have been laid to rest.
She was buried in her hometown, Tunga Magajiya, in Rijau local government area of Niger State.
Tears flowed freely as she was being buried as well-wishers and relations lamented how she was killed.
She was buried around 6:30pm on Saturday at the Christian cemetery in Tunga Magajiya.
Her family remained adamant on proceeding with the exercise despite protest by youths of Tunga Magaiya who felt Sokoto Government should have been responsible for her burial.
Her uncle, who is the Pastor of ECWA in Tunga Magajiya, Emmanuel Maaji, led the prayers at the cemetery before she was lowered to the grave.
Meanwhile, the Sokoto State government has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew to prevent a breakdown of law and order, while appealing for calm.
