Nigerian religious leaders on Thursday called for calm and demanded justice after the stoning to death of a Christian student in northwestern Nigeria accused of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad.
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The student's murder took place in Sokoto State where Sharia law is in force alongside common law, as in other states in Nigeria's conservative Muslim north.
Dozens of students at the Shehu Shagari School on Thursday stoned student Deborah Samuel and then burned her body after reading a comment she posted on social media, which they considered offensive to the prophet Muhammad.
“Unjustifiable incident”
Two suspects have been arrested, police said.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar, the highest spiritual authority of Nigerian Muslims, and the influential Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah, on Thursday appealed for calm after the student's murder.
"
The Sultanate Council condemned the incident...and urged the security agencies to bring the perpetrators of this unjustifiable incident to justice
," Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar said in a statement.
The sultan, who also leads the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) for Interfaith Harmony, called
on "everyone to remain calm and ensure peaceful co-existence
" in the country.
Death penalty according to Sharia
Catholic Bishop Kukah also condemned the killing, lamenting "
profound shock
".
“
We call on the authorities to investigate this tragedy and ensure that all culprits are brought to justice
,” he said.
A video shared on social media shows the dead student, her face bleeding, wearing a pink dress lying on the ground surrounded by dozens of large stones thrown by her attackers.
Police said all suspects identified in this video will be arrested.
Nigeria, a giant of 215 million people divided almost evenly between a predominantly Muslim North and a predominantly Christian South, is one of the most religious countries in the world.
In Islam, blasphemy, especially against the Prophet, is punishable by death under Sharia law, introduced in 2000 in 12 northern Nigerian states.
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Islamic courts, which operate alongside the state justice system, have already handed down death sentences for adultery, blasphemy or homosexuality, but no executions have taken place so far.
Two Muslims were sentenced to death in 2015 and 2020 by Islamic courts for blasphemy against the Prophet.
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