After a college student in the state of Sokoto’s northwestern region was attacked by fellow students who accused her of blasphemy the previous week, two students were charged in court on Monday with conspiracy and inciting public disturbance. This occurred after the incident that occurred the previous week.Â
The passing of Deborah Samuel, a college student in her second year, has raised questions about the role that Islamic sharia law should play in a secular democracy such as Nigeria, which is split between a predominantly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south. Deborah Samuel was a Christian.
According to their primary lawyer, Mansur Said, who spoke with Reuters, the allegations against Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunchi, who are classmates, have a minimum prison sentence of two years if they are found guilty. The accused entered a plea of not guilty to the charges against them.
Those who had anticipated that the authorities would take a tougher stance against what they regard as religious intolerance in an effort to prevent incidents of a similar kind in the future are likely to be dissatisfied with the choice of charges that have been brought.
The bail requests for the two men were refused by the magistrate’s court, and they are scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday for a second hearing.
On Sunday, protests against Samuel’s killing will take place on the grounds of churches all around Nigeria, as they have been called for by the biggest coalition of Christian churches in Nigeria.
Other students have accused Samuel of using a WhatsApp group chat to make derogatory sentiments about the Prophet Muhammad. Samuel denies the allegations.
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