Bauchi commissioner for education Aliyu Tilde on Sunday ramped up his fanatical and inflammatory statements about Deborah Samuel, saying the murdered Christian student had a “foul mouth” and disrespect for Islamic beliefs in Sokoto, a Muslim-dominated state.

Mr Tilde claimed without evidence that Ms Samuel had been issued several warnings by her classmates to desist from making blasphemous statements against Islam, which purportedly went unheeded. 

“That Deborah’s foul mouth was insensitive to danger and the beliefs of Muslims especially in a Muslim majority state like Sokoto, against the advice of her roommates, the law and the scriptures, including the Bible,” Mr Tilde wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday.

“The stupidity that the girl showed is so horrific that no Muslim would take it mildly,” the Bauchi education commissioner added.Mr Tilde is widely popular amongst the media and political elite across northern Nigeria, where many see him as a taught leader of steep Fulani roots.

Defending Ms Samuel’s murderers, the Bauchi commissioner said the fanatics killed her from committing another blasphemy since their previous warnings had been ignored. “It is also not her first time. She could repeat it because the law failed to be applied in the first instance,” he claimed. 

He also mentioned that jungle justice had been going on in Sokoto for over 30 years in the name of killing people for blasphemy.

“Many Muslims have fallen victims of the extrajudicial killing in blasphemy, including too many Muslims to mention and at least the case of one other Christian that I know over 30 years ago. More Muslims have been killed for blasphemy than Christians,” Mr Tilde said.

In the statement titled ‘Deborah and political cowardice’, the education commissioner also apportioned blame to political candidates who kept mum over the gruesome murder. 

Mr Tilde said their silence reeked of fear as they did not want to lose the votes of Christians and Muslims at the forthcoming general elections.

“Right now, all they portray is cowardice through a silence that is not golden. Their speech should guide our opinions, not the other way round,” wrote Mr Tilde.

The Bauchi commissioner on Saturday said Ms Samuel’s murder was provoked and excoriated those dismissing blasphemy as uncivilised to seek a psychiatric evaluation.

Mr Tilde has continued to hold on to his job despite his statements, with Governor Bala Mohammed avoiding any disciplinary measure against his Islamic fundamentalist aid to prevent backlash from his horde of fanatics.