Police on Monday arraigned two suspects, Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci over the lynching of a 200-Level Home Economics student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Deborah Samuel.
The suspects, co-students of the deceased, were docked at a Sokoto Chief Magistrate’s Court for their alleged participation in the crime.
They pleaded not guilty to the crime.
Leading a team of 34 lawyers, the defence counsel, Prof. Mansur Ibrahim, applied for their bail on liberal terms citing constitutional provisions and sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
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The trial judge (name withheld for security reasons) reserved the ruling on the bail application and ordered the accused to be remanded at a correctional centre.
Before she was lynched, Deborah was accused of denigrating Islam on a WhatsApp chat platform set up by her coursemates and refused to retract her post after she was asked to pull it down.
A violent street protest followed the arrest of suspects linked to the lynching of Deborah as the protesters demanded their immediate release by security operatives.
Gov. Aminu Tambuwal consequently imposed a 24-hour curfew on Sokoto metropolis on Saturday. He relaxed the curfew on Monday to be observed from dusk to dawn. (NAN)
