Barely 24 hours after the burial of late Deborah Samuel, the 200 level student of Shehu Shagari College of Eduction Sokoto, who was gruesomely murdered for an alleged blasphemy, the father of the deceased, Emmanuel Garba, has accused both the Niger and Sokoto state governments of abandoning his family to their fate.
Although the late student was laid to rest in her home town, Tunganmagajiya, Rijau Local Government Area of Niger State, on Saturday evening, the evacuation of the remains of late Deborah from police custody was done solely by the family.
Neither the Niger state government nor the Sokoto state government rendered any form of assistance towards the evacuation and eventual burial of the deceased student.
The father of the late Deborah told journalists that not even a word was heard from the Niger state government, since the brutal killing of their daughter, condemning the killing or condoling the family.
“We are yet to hear from the state government. They are yet to send us any message, even to condole us. Even the Sokoto state government did not send any message to us”, he said with tears rolling out of his eyes.
Narrating how he was able to retrieve the body of late daughter for burial, Emmanuel said, “I went to the Criminal Investigators Department (CID), Sokoto, and pleaded with them that since the corpse was burnt, they should help me with it, so that it doesn’t completely decompose, so I can bury her”.
He stated further that because of the hostile atmosphere in Sokoto, he had to approach the Department of State Security (DSS) for an escort which they agreed, adding, “the DSS reasoned with me and followed me. I signed some documents and they gave her body to me”.
Mr. Emmanuel, who has now vowed never to send any of his children to school any more, said disclosed that because of the circumstances that surrounded the death of his daughter, no commercial vehicle driver was willing to help convey the body back to Tungan magajiya even when the family was ready to pay any amount.
“I paid N120,000. It was hard getting anyone who will help us take the corpse down here. Most of the Hausa men were reluctant to help us, but you know that no matter the circumstances, someone always needs money”, he added.
Mr. Emmanuel, a father of seven, said that “as believers, we have taken this as an act of God. We won’t seek vengeance or any action. Vengeance is for God, not human beings. A believer resigns his fate to God”.
He, nevertheless, vowed not to send any of his children to school any more. “Everything we have, we put it into the education of Deborah, and, today, she is dead. There are her siblings here who, because of Deborah’s schooling, we couldn’t send to school because we couldn’t afford it.
“If you have anything, you can’t sponsor all your children to such schools. I have seven children, Deborah was the second born. It is all over for me because I don’t have the resources”.
