A Nigerian man named Ahmad Usman was assaulted by a mob in the capital city of Abuja and set on fire Saturday, after he was seen arguing with a Muslim cleric. Usman was taken to the hospital by police, but declared dead on arrival.
“The heated argument degenerated into an outbreak of violence that led to the murder and setting ablaze of Ahmad Usman by the enraged mob mobilized by the clergy, numbering about two hundred,” Abuja police spokeswoman Josephine Adeh said.
Adeh described the murder as “jungle justice” and promised “adequate sanctions” would be rendered against those responsible for the “crude and dastardly act.”
The Nigerian Tribune described Usman as a 30-year-old “member of a vigilante group,” and said he was first stoned and then immolated for “allegedly making statements deemed to be blasphemous.”
According to this account, Usman’s unnamed vigilante group was guarding a building in a suburb of Abuja on Saturday when it deemed some local residents to be troublemakers and tried to “arrest” them.
“The residents were said to have begged the vigilance group to free them in the name of Allah, but one of the vigilantes kicked and made comments said to be blasphemous,” the Nigerian Tribune reported.
The Premium Times of Nigeria added more details on Monday, saying trouble began when Usman tried to “arrest” a fried yam vendor because he was in the market area after midnight, breaking a deadline imposed by the community.
A local witness said Usman made “blasphemous comments” after the yam seller, who turned out to also be a Muslim cleric, demanded to be released “in Allah’s name.”
Other members of Usman’s vigilante group said a mob of black-clad men with stones appeared, trashed the group’s office, and then used burning tires to set Usman on fire.
Nigeria’s Emergency Digest reported on Tuesday that the yam-slinging cleric who ordered Usman’s death has been identified as Malam Lawan and taken into custody by police. This report said Usman himself was Muslim, and was “buried on Saturday according to Islamic rights.” The report mentioned that Usman was married earlier this year.
Both Nigerian and international media put Usman’s death in the context of rising tensions after the murder of Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a Christian student at the Shehu Shagari College of Education in the state of Sokoto who was beaten, stoned, hanged, and burned by a Muslim mob last month.
Yakubu was killed after sending a WhatsApp message to classmates that was “deemed to be insulting to the Prophet Muhammas,” as Human Rights Watch (HRW) put it. Her killers videotaped themselves celebrating over her dead body.
Muslim students rioted after two suspects were arrested for Yakubu’s murder, and police indicated they would track down the others who appeared on video abusing her corpse. The mob demanded police release all suspects and discontinue their manhunt.
The Biden State Department removed Nigeria from its list of countries that severely violate religious freedom in November 2021.
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