Sixteen suspects in the murder of a Christian secondary school teacher in the northern Nigerian state of Gombe, have been released without charge. The decision has caused dismay in local Christian circles.
Married mother of two, Christiana Oluwatoyin Oluwasesin, was brutally murdered on 21 March 2007 after a Muslim student falsely accused her of having torn a copy of the Quran. The student had been caught cheating in an exam at Gandu Government Day Secondary School.
Mrs Oluwasesin had confiscated a paper with Arabic inscriptions which the student had hidden in a book. Despite another teacher showing that the book was not the Quran and had not been torn, a mob of students attacked Mrs Oluwasesin, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has reported.
They were aided by residents from the surrounding area who had been drawn to the scene by the clamour. She was stoned, stripped, beaten, and stabbed to death, and her body was later burned beyond recognition.
Local observers believe the incident may have been pre-planned. Two weeks prior to her death Mrs. Oluwasesin was targeted by thugs whilst in the local town and had to be rescued by passers-by. The attack that ended her life lasted for an hour.
According to the findings of a report commissioned by the Gombe Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), a notorious member of a local gang of Islamic militants, nicknamed the 'Angel of death', arrived at the scene on the back of a motorcycle as the victim knelt begging for her life. He slit her throat and stabbed her in the stomach and breast before the students set her body on fire.
CAN Gombe investigators also discovered that four policemen armed with guns and teargas were in the school grounds when the violence began, but ran away from stone-throwing students without firing weapons to disperse them and without calling for reinforcements.
Although the students set fire to classrooms, Mrs Oluwasesin's car and the motorcycle of another Christian teacher, local fire service personnel claim they could not reach the area as all roads were blocked by unspecified groups.
