The parents of Deborah Samuel, a 200L student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto State, who was set ablaze by a mob for alleged blasphemy, have said their other children, seven of them, will not go to school anymore.
Mr. Emmanuel Garba, Deborah’s father, said he paid N120,000 to transport the remains of his daughter from Sokoto to Niger State to be buried.
He said he would not seek any legal redress, and that no government official had not contacted him despite the gruesome killing of his daughter.
He further disclosed that “I have yet to get a call or message from anyone concerning the incident. Nobody called me. I decided to go on my own. I went to the state CID (Criminal Investigation Department) office and begged them to help me get the corpse so I could bury it because leaving it there might make it decompose. Then they took me to the mortuary, did some paperwork and released the remains to me. I was the one who transported the remains“.
He also said he paid N120,00 because that was the cheapest he got as most transporters would prefer not to transport corpses.
Garba, a security guard with the Niger State Water and Sewage Corporation, said his wife had fallen ill, adding that she had just finished receiving injections. “We are not seeking redress in any court over the killing of our daughter“.
“We are firm believers in Christ who always leaves everything in the hands of God. No vengeance, nothing. Everything is left to our creator. We don’t want anything (from the government) but it is just unfortunate that we used all our resources to send her to school and now she is dead. She was my eldest child and I have seven others left,” he added.
Her mother, Alheri Emmanuel, who broke down in tears, said: “I have no demands. I don’t want anything but one thing I know is that my children will never go to school again.”
Deborah Samuel, was a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, who was killed on a mob action on Thursday 12th May 2022, for allegedly making blasphemous statements about Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
Story: Hilda Katu
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