Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State has said that the security operatives that tried to save Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, accused of blasphemy, were brutally attacked by the mob that eventually killed her.
While speaking at a political gathering in Delta State on Saturday, Governor Tambuwal said that contrary to a general view, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) tried but could not save the late 200-level student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education.
“Contrary possibly to what you are thinking, the security agencies particularly the DSS, were able to get to the school on time and were actually able to get Deborah rescued from the mob initially.
As they were mobilising forces from the military barracks, the police command, the mob was growing. As we speak, one of the DSS agents that attempted to save her life is in the hospital with a broken head and the other one had a broken hand.
They were actually overpowered. It is not as if she was left on her own. There was rescue by the DSS and they were around where she was locked into – a room – because they tried to really save her but unfortunately they were overpowered,” he said.
The governor stated that the crisis that erupted after the killing has abated and that Sokoto state is safe to visit.
Deborah was gruesomely murdered and her body was burnt by a mob who accused her of making a blasphemous comment about Prophet Mohammed in their class Whatsapp group.
Deborah has since been buried in her hometown in Niger State. The police have arrested two suspects in connection with her murder and also declared some suspects wanted.
