Former President of the Senate, Anyim Pius Anyim, has condemned the gruesome murder of Deborah Yakubu in Sokoto State on May 13, joining another presidential contender Yele Sowore who denounced the lynching on Thursday afternoon.

In a statement he personally signed in Abuja Friday, Mr Anyim described the killing as cruel, illegal, callous and inhuman.

He insisted that there was no place in a modern democracy such as Nigeria for jungle justice and killing of human beings illegally.

Mr Anyim said Ms Yakubu deserved to have been put through the full process of the law which has adequate punishment for all offences including the one she was accused of.

“We cannot afford now to add religious intolerance to the plethora of problems bedevilling our country.

The PDP presidential aspirant, therefore, urged security agencies to carry out a thorough investigation into the ugly incident with a view to bringing those responsible for the unlawful murder of a promising Nigerian to justice as soon as possible.

“I condole with the immediate family and friends of Yakubu over this painful death and irreplaceable loss,” Mr Anyim said.

“I pray that God Almighty, in His infinite mercy, grants the soul of Deborah a peaceful repose and to those she left behind, the strength and courage to bear the loss.”

Mr Sowore in his statement had described Ms Samuel’s killing as premeditated and said the country cannot continue this way.

“The premeditated murder of Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto is wholly condemned and her murderers must be brought to justice or justice brought to them,” the African Action Congress presidential aspirant said on Facebook.

Ms Yakubu, a 200 level student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, in Sokoto State was allegedly killed by an angry crowd of fellow students for suspected blasphemy.

Meanwhile, the police on Thursday said it has arrested two students of the college in connection with the killing of Ms Yakubu.

The police said this in a statement by the state spokesperson, ASP Sanusi Abubakar.

“Two students were arrested in connection with the crime. The school has been closed down by the school authority and policemen deployed to give tight security coverage,” he said.

He assured that all the suspects in the viral video on Twitter would be nailed by the police as soon as possible. 

(NAN)

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the record that Yele Sowore was the first presidential aspirant to condemn Deborah Samuel’s murder, not Pius Anyim.