A mob in Sokoto on Thursday burnt alive a female student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education over alleged blasphemy.
Identified simply as Deborah, the student is reported to have described a message about Prophet Muhammad on a WhatsApp group as “nonsense”.
The group, it was learnt, was created for academic purposes.
A source told Daily Trust that the matter got out of hand after Deborah refused to apologise for her alleged comment on the post.
“She was asked to apologise but refused and this heightened tension in the school. The college security personnel had to intervened by whisking her to their office but they were overwhelmed by students, who later set her ablaze,” the source said.
A video of the incident has since gone viral on social media. In the video, a man said in Hausa that he struck the match that led to the fire.
“I am the one who killed her; I burnt her,” he said, displaying a box of matches in his hand as others chanted “Allahu Akbar”.
