Amnesty International has reiterated its call for the Nigerian government to arrest and prosecute the individuals responsible for the murder of Deborah Samuel Yakubu. Deborah, a second- year Christian college student at Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, was stoned to death by a mob of Muslim students on May 12, 2022, after being accused of blasphemy against Islam.

Two suspects, Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci, were arrested in connection with her murder and remanded by a Magistrate Court in Sokoto State.

However, during the court proceedings, the suspects pleaded not guilty, and due to the absence of police prosecution in subsequent hearings, they were discharged and acquitted by Chief Magistrate Shuaibu Ahmad on January 30, 2023.

The charges against them, criminal conspiracy, and inciting public disturbance, carried a maximum of two- year jail term upon conviction. The lack of justice for Deborah has been a point of concern, with Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka highlighting the issue during a recent public lecture.

He expressed sadness over the fact that none of Deborah' s killers had been brought to justice, questioning why her case seemed to have been forgotten. He compared it to the case of Dele Giwa, a journalist who was killed almost 40 years ago, where a judge recently ordered the Attorney General to bring the perpetrators to justice.