Rakia, one of Deborah’s friends revealed the last words of Deborah Samuel before she was lynched by the mob of Muslim students on Thursday for alleged blasphemy.
Rakia told Vanguard that the deceased kept pleading, “What do you hope to achieve with this?”She said Deborah was flogged, killed, and burnt, adding that it was the most horrible thing she (Rakia) had ever witnessed.
“Deborah was my course mate. I just stepped into the class when the uproar on her voice note started.
“It was her coursemates that started it. It all started with a debate on the upcoming examination on a general WhatsApp platform created for our coursemates.
Two students from other departments who overheard some Muslim boys discussing the matter told Deborah’s close friends to prevail on her to retract the statement. But she replied via a voice note on the platform, “Holy Ghost fire. Nothing will happen to me.”
“We were made to understand that some young men were brought from outside (the campus) before the outrage. I was in class when some of our coursemates rushed in, saying “There is fire on the mountain o.”
Rakia further revealed that the Muslim students hired strangers to the class to look for her (Deborah) while some other classmates tried to help her to escape.
“They got a cab waiting outside to drive her straight to the police station but unfortunately, the mob overpowered everyone who tried to save her.
“The last word in her mouth was, “What do you hope to achieve with this?” By then some of our coursemates were making calls to some of our lecturers to save the situation.
It was when I got home that I heard she was set ablaze. Since the incident, I have been having a flash of her pleading expression. She pleaded for mercy and called out for help but it was far from her. What a cruel way to die,” she said.
There has been nationwide outrage since Thursday when the incident was reported with the Christian Association of Nigeria, the Sultanate of Sokoto, among other rights activists, lawyers and groups calling for the arrest and prosecution of the suspected killers of the female student.
