A course mate of the late Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College Education, Sokoto, who was killed on Thursday for alleged blasphemy, has said that the hapless student was tortured before being killed.
The classmate who identified herself as Rakia to Vanguard, said Deborah was flogged mercilessly as she pleaded for mercy before being stoned and killed.
She described the experience as the most horrible thing she had ever witnessed, and one that would stay with her for life.
“Deborah was my course mate. I just stepped into the class when the uproar on her voice note started.”
Rakia alleged that the whole incident was caused by one of their course mates who was angry with Deborah for allegedly daring them by refusing to apologise when she was asked to.
Deborah was said to have insisted that she did nothing wrong as the platform was not meant for sharing religious posts but school work.
“We were made to understand that some young men were brought from outside before the outrage. I was in class when some of our course mates rushed in, saying ‘there is fire on the mountain o’.
Rakia said some Muslim students led the strangers to the class to look for her and all hell was let loose.
Deborah reportedly asked them ‘what do you hope to achieve with this?’ as they descended on her. She reportedly then resorted to pleading for mercy but the assailants were adamant on killing her.
“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.
