Firstly, our thoughts and prayers go to the family of Deborah Emmanuel, the 25 year old Christian student in Nigeria’s Sokoto State, who was the horrific victim of a mob that beat her and burned her alive.

While this evil act was caught on camera, we refuse to show it. The murder occurred when students gathered around, beating her with sticks, throwing large stone and shouting ‘Allah Akbar’. Heartbreakingly, the video also shows Deborah pleading with the barbaric monsters for her life.

According to International Christian Concern (ICC), a student who spoke to them said “Muslim students and teachers don’t like Christians in the school” and also acknowledged that school authorities tried to intervene and stop the students from attacking her but tragically failed. A spokesperson for the Sokoto state command said two suspects were arrested in connection with the murder. The Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto said in a statement that it had closed the college indefinitely following the brutality.

The World Council of Churches “strongly supports calls by Nigerian Christian leaders, the Sultan of Sokoto and many other leaders, for the perpetrators of this atrocity to be held accountable to the law”, the acting general secretary, the Revd Professor Ioan Sauca, said in a statement on Tuesday. “We appeal for justice for Deborah, and call upon the government and authorities of Nigeria to ensure that it is delivered.” The RC charity Aid to the Church in Need decried this most recent act of violence. Its executive president, Thomas Heine-Geldern, said: “The levels of extremism and violence reached in Nigeria over the last few years are absolutely appalling. Hardly a week goes by without news of kidnappings and dozens of deaths, but this barbaric act leaves us speechless. “The religious extremism we have become so familiar with under Boko Haram, and that has caused so many innocent victims, seems to have spread and polarised an increasingly large part of society. There is a serious religious liberty crisis, and it is not only caused by terrorists. The Nigerian government must reflect deeply on where this violence is dragging the country, and how it can defend the rights of all its citizens.”

Since 1999, 12 states in northern Nigeria have adopted sharia-based legal codes that operate in parallel with secular courts, something reported to have deepened the divisions in the country. The death in captivity of Fr Joseph Aketeh Bako, who was abducted on 8 March with two other priests, was confirmed the day before Miss Yakuba’s murder. The Christian Association of Nigeria has called for the prosecution ofher killers. Its president, Dr Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, called on all church leaders to organise a national peaceful protest on 22 May, demanding, “No more killings in God’s name” and justice for the murdered student. Miss Yakuba was a member of the Evangelical Church Winning All, in Niger state, and belonged to the Fellowship of Christian Students. Release International, a charity that supports persecuted Christians around the world, declared itself “horrified and appalled”. Its chief executive, Paul Robinson, said: “The cry of blasphemy, the murder, and the rioting reflect the growing climate of violence towards Christians, especially in the north of the country, where Nigeria has become a killing zone for Christians. We continue to call on the government of Nigeria to prevent this violence, and on the international community to press Nigeria to act immediately.”

A statement from CSW-Nigeria (CSWN) said: “The tragedy that should wake all people of good conscience in Nigeria is the fact that the stoning and burning happened within an academic environment that symbolises enlightenment, tolerance and civilisation. “It should it be an environment that guaranteed her right to the secularity that the Nigerian constitution created for all. CSWN is worried that such a barbaric form of expression is gradually redefining that peaceful and harmonious culture of tolerance that the north is known for. And for such to stop happening, leaders must take the lead in sincerely addressing it so that Nigeria would continue to be home to all.” The director of advocacy at the human-rights organisation Open Doors (UK and Ireland), Dr David Landrum, said: “The gruesome murder of the Christian girl Deborah is yet another evidence of the extreme vulnerability of Christians in Nigeria.”

Nigeria ranks seventh on Open Doors’ World Watch List 2022: an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.

It is in our opinion, a clear sign of the intolerance of the majority of Muslims in those who are brave enough to oppose views that they personally disagree with. Where is the outrage in the western media for the death of innocent people? The silence of the mainstream media, such as the BBC, who refuse to cover this war is deafening. When will we say ‘enough is enough’ and stand up with the Jeudo-Christian values have underpinned Britain and her commonwealth empire?

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/20-may/news/world/students-charged-for-disturbing-the-peace-over-brutal-murder-of-christian-in-nigeria