The family of Deborah Samuel, a 200-level Home Economics student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, who was burnt to death last Thursday over alleged blasphemy, has said that the Sokoto State Government said they were not right to have taken her remains for burial.
She was buried in her hometown, Tunga Magajiya in Rijau Local Government Area of Niger State on Saturday.
Pastor Emmanuel Maaji of the First Evangelical Church Winning All, Tunga Magajiya, Niger State, revealed this and the fact that Yakubu’s mother had been unconscious since the incidence on Saturday during the burial.
Maaaji, the pastor to the deceased’s family in charge of the church in Tunga Magajiya, spoke by telephone to newsmen on Saturday.
He said: “The family is insisting that late Deborah Samuel be buried today because they are not happy with the way the government is handling the issue,” adding that Samuel’s mother “has been unconscious since she heard the news on Thursday, which led to a rise in her blood pressure while the father has been inconsolable”.
Maaji said on the position of the Sokoto State Government on the burial of Samuel: “The government called and said that it is not right for the family to take the body in that manner without informing the government of Sokoto State.
“The Sokoto State Government told the family that Deborah’s body belongs to the government and not the family.”
Maaaji said that although he could not recollect the name of the person who called, the person claimed to be representing the government of Sokoto State.
