Police: Eight Dead Victims of Zamfara Blasphemy Killings are ‘Suspects’

The Zamfara State Police Command said it had identified 14 persons as masterminds and perpetrators of the August 22, Talata-Mafara crisis which claimed eight lives. This was contained in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the command, Muhammad Shehu, yesterday in Gusau. Crisis broke out at the Abdu Gusau Polytechnic, Talata-Mafara, on August 22, following a fight between two male students which turned religious and led to the death of eight persons. One of the students was accused of blaspheming the Prophet of Islam. According to the police statement, the eight persons that died during the crisis were among the suspects that were discovered in the course of police investigation.

It said Bashir Adamu from Kuryan Madaro of Kauran Namoda Local Government Area of the state had been arrested and charged to court over his involvement in the crisis. Similarly, another person who sustained injuries during the disturbance was undergoing treatment at the hospital after which he would also be charged to court. The statement, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that the police had spread its dragnet to arrest those on the run and bring them to book. The command warned that anyone found disturbing the peaceful coexistence among the people in the state would face the full wrath of the law.