Curfew in Sokoto, Nigeria after protests broke out over student murder

In Sokoto, Nigeria, a 24-hour curfew has been imposed after demonstrators took to the streets demanding the release of two suspects in the death of a Christian student last week.

Deborah Samuel was attacked and burnt by Muslim students on Thursday after they accused her of making “blasphemous” insults about Islam in a WhatsApp group.

Muslims and Christians in Nigeria have loudly criticized her killing.

On Saturday, protesters set fire to tires while police shot tear gas.

Some demonstrators surrounded the palace of Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and Nigeria’s foremost spiritual figure among Muslims.

The Sultan has denounced the murder at Shehu Shagari College of Education and has asked that those responsible face justice.

Announcing the curfew, Sokoto Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal urged the protesters: “Please, in the interest of peace go back home.”

Nigeria is Africa’s most-populous country and most people in its mainly Muslim north and the largely Christian south are deeply religious.

Religious tensions and deadly clashes are not uncommon, particularly in the north where some states have adopted strict sharia laws, including death sentences for blasphemy.

Blasphemy in Islam includes the mocking or disparaging of attributes of the religion as well as denying any of its fundamental beliefs.

President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned Ms Samuel’s killing and said there should be an impartial investigation.

Nigeria’s largest grouping of Christian churches has demanded the authorities bring the culprits to justice.

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