Blasphemy: Deborah’s parents vow to stop other children from schooling

The mother of Deborah Samuel, a 200 level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, who was lynched last week for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad, Alheri Emmanuel, has said she would neverr send her remaining seven children to school. 

Emmanuel Garba, Deborah’s father, also said on Sunday that he paid N120,000 to transport the remains of his daughter from Sokoto State to Niger State.

Garba, who said he would not seek any legal redress, disclosed that the government had not contacted him despite the gruesome killing of his daughter.
He stated, “I have yet to get a call or message from anyone concerning the incident. Nobody called me; I decided to go on my own. I went to the state CID (Criminal Investigation Department) office and begged them to help me get the corpse so I could bury it because leaving it there might make it decompose. Then they took me to the mortuary, did some paperwork and released the remains to me.”
“I was the one who paid to transport the remains. I was charged N120,000 which I was forced to pay because that was the cheapest I got as the  majority of people don’t like transporting corpses.”
Garba, a security guard with the Niger State Water and Sanitation,  said his wife had fallen ill, adding that she had just finished receiving injections.
He also stated, “We are not seeking redress in any court over the killing of our daughter. We are firm believers in Christ who always leave everything in the hands of God. No vengeance, nothing. Everything is left to our creator.
“We don’t want anything (from the government) but it is just unfortunate that we used all our resources to send her to school and now she is dead. She was my eldest child and I have seven others left.”
Her mother, Alheri Emmanuel, who broke down in tears, said, “I have no demands; I don’t want anything but one thing I know is that my children will never go to school again.”
Also, the northern chapter of CAN on Sunday directed Christian leaders in the country to terminate their participation in the activities of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council, until their counterparts of Islamic faith show commitment to tame their followers on equal terms.
“We are urging all Christian leaders to terminate their participation in NIREC, until their counterparts of Islamic faith show commitment to tame their followers on equal terms,” the Public Relations Officer of CAN (19 Northern States and Abuja), Jechonia Gilbert, gave the directive in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday titled: ‘Deborah Samuel: No cover-up, assailants must face judgment’ 
The organisation also called on every Christian parent across the country especially in northern states to discourage sending their children to any school in Sokoto State.
CAN said the directive to parents would continue, pending when the federal and state governments would be ready and willing to secure the lives of its children both in Sokoto and other states that had been hostile to Christians and Christianity.
CAN warned the faith who kill to please their God to exercise restraint because “those who tried it in Egypt and their experiences should be enough warning.
“There is the Red Sea awaiting them, even those who are secretly encouraging them, must partake in the Red Sea experience”, the organisation said.
The statement further read, “While CAN does not and will not encourage casting aspersions on any religion or religious leader of any faith, CAN frowns on hiding under the gab of any religious extremism to perpetrate any form of criminality against her members, especially in northern Nigeria.
“God Almighty is not and can never be a weak God for mere mortals to fight and defend Him. On the contrary, it is He who keeps watch and defends us. CAN believes that life is sacred and must never be taken by another unless as directed by the state.”