Genocide Watch Calls for Investigation by Nigerian Supreme Court
of Blasphemy Murder of Deborah Emmanuel
Truth Nigeria
By Douglas Gray Burton
May 12, 2024
Deborah Emmanuel from her Facebook page.
Remembering Deborah Emmanuel in Sokoto and Nigeria’s Failure to Defeat Islamism
This chilling testimony of Deborah Emmanuel’s cousin, Josephine, demands an independent investigation by a commission appointed by the Nigerian Supreme Court.”
— Dr. Gregory Stanton, Founder, Genocide Watch
(Washington) The second anniversary of the blasphemy murder of Deborah Emmanuel (Yakubu) in Sokoto (May 12, 2022) is a teaching moment for Nigeria – and the world.
The world only knows that a promising student and exemplary Christian believer was stoned to death on the campus of Shehu Shagari Teachers College because she allegedly had blasphemed against the Prophet Mohammed on a social media app.
Mob hatred against her followed her spurning of a Muslim boy who wanted to date her, according to Morning Star News.
Deborah’s relatives watched the jihadist mob surround the campus gatehouse where Deborah and her cousin sheltered for the last hours of her life. They tell TruthNigeria that some of her fellow students were jealous of her outstanding abilities in mathematics. They had earlier vocally condemned her because she gave honor to Jesus instead of to the Prophet.
Deborah accused the school of discriminating against Christians in favor of Muslims, Pastor David Ayuba Azzaman told Morning Star News.
“This is what they used as proof of blasphemy.” She didn’t actually insult the prophet Muhammad, but she turned down a Muslim student’s proposal to date her. So, in revenge, he accused her of insulting prophet Muhammad,” Azzaman said.
TruthNigeria is the first to report that the stoning was secretly planned by jihadists for two weeks prior to the actual event. When a relative appeared at the Sokoto police station on the morning of May 12 to beg for officers to rescue Deborah, he was astonished to find that the police already knew that a plot was afoot to murder her days before she was killed, but the police did nothing to protect her.
At least 17 Police and 5 Department of Security Service men arrived on the morning of May 12 at the gatehouse on campus where Deborah and her cousin were already under siege by a mob of 50 students who tried to burn the gatehouse. The security men had rifles, but they refused to use them to rescue the two students. For five hours, the police did nothing to stop the mob when it broke into the gatehouse at 3 p.m. The student mob grabbed Deborah, took her outside and stoned her to death.
Deborah was a Christian leader on campus: she had created an abstinence group of sisters she called the “Lydia Girls.” She led a church choir that performed at weddings. She had a fiancé who was completing his training at the Sokoto Police academy. Deborah herself had been accepted to study at the police academy.
Deborah loved the people of Sokoto, who are overwhelmingly Muslim. She wanted to serve them as a police officer – in the same police unit that stood by and let a mob kill her.
It never occurred to Deborah that fellow students would kill her for an alleged comment she made on a message app. In fact, even as she sat bleeding from head wounds in her last hours, she was worried about not getting to her final exams that day, according to her cousin, Josephine, who gave extensive interviews to TruthNigeria.
“This chilling testimony of Deborah Emmanuel’s cousin, Josephine, demands an independent investigation by a commission appointed by the Nigerian Supreme Court,” according to Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, former U.S. State Department Foreign Service Officer and Founding President of Genocide Watch.
“The investigation must be truly independent. The investigation must not be whitewashed by the same government security officials who were responsible for protecting Deborah Emmanuel Garba and her cousin, Josephine. (Her cousin’s full name is withheld for her protection from retribution.
“College security guards failed to protect these innocent students from a terrorist mob. This incident is only one of many in which Christian students have been harassed and murdered by Islamist terrorists,” Stanton continued.
“In this case and others, the terrorists were fellow students. The security guards who should have protected them were complicit in their murders.
“The terrorists must be arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned.
“Nigeria must be rescued from the Islamist terrorism that has killed thousands of Christians since 2000.
“The Nigerian President, police, army, and judges must return Nigeria to the rule of law. Otherwise, Nigeria will descend into full civil war and genocide,” Stanton commented.
One may argue Deborah was naive about her fellow students and the religious hatred they harbored. A college campus dedicated to the pursuit of truth and intellectual freedom. Other students must not be so trusting of their classmates.
The Muslim religious and government authorities in Sokoto denounced the killing of Deborah afterwards, but none of them have apologized to Deborah’s parents. One Imam in Sokoto even commended the men who killed Deborah. He has not been reprimanded for saying it. The Sultan of Sokoto urged that the perpetrators be arrested and prosecuted.
Although two suspects were arrested, after several weeks of postponed hearings, charges against them were dropped. The cover up is complete.
The stage is set for more stonings of Christian students to come.
Contact: Douglas Gray BurtonBurton
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