Blasphemy: Police Arrest 3 During Protest In Maiduguri

Blasphemy: Police Arrest 3 During Protest In Maiduguri

Borno State Police Command has arrested three persons during the protest over a blasphemous statement made against Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by one Naomi Goni on her Facebook account.

Goni was accused of making the statement while reacting to the killing of Deborah Samuel, a second level female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto who was lynched over blasphemy.

The Commissioner of Police, Abdu Umar, who disclosed this on Monday during a press briefing on the situation at the police headquarters in Maiduguri, said that the suspects were arrested with “something like fuel inside a Jeri can.”

Umar warned residents not to take advantage of the protest to disrupt peace in the state.

“For now the suspects are in custody but I don’t think they are connected with a particular offence until after investigation,” he said.

The CP said all unlawful assembly in the state had been banned in the state, adding that “security operatives are going round the metropolis to dislodge any unlawful assembly.”

Hundreds of people had earlier converged on the 7 Division Garrison at the bypass in Maiduguri to protest against the blasphemous statement made by Goni.

The protesters burnt tyres closed to the entrance of the Garrison and blocked the bypass where the lady supposedly live with a soldier and demanded the soldiers bring her out.

All efforts made to get the reactions of the Garrison commander were not successful at the time of filing this report.