A woman has been killed by a mob in Niger State, northern Nigeria, after being accused of making blasphemous remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. Police confirmed that the victim, identified locally as a food vendor named Amaye, was attacked and set ablaze over the week-end in Kasuwan-Garba town. The state police command described the incident as “jungle justice” and has launched an investigation to arrest and prosecute those involved.
According to eyewitnesses, the violence began when a man jokingly proposed marriage to the vendor, and her response was deemed blasphemous by some residents. Before security forces could intervene, she was beaten and set on fire by the mob. The police have appealed for calm and urged the public not to take the law into their own hands. The case has once again thrown a spotlight on the prevalence of mob justice in northern Nigeria, where blasphemy is considered a serious crime under Sharia law, which runs parallel with secular law in 12 states.
Rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have warned that blasphemy accusations are often manipulated to settle personal disputes, with mobs delivering instant, brutal punishments. Recent cases, such as the killing of student Deborah Samuel in 2022 and butcher Usman Buda in 2023, underline the persistence of this violence. Despite constitutional protections for freedom of speech, critics argue that weak enforcement and deep religious divides have allowed extrajudicial killings in the name of blasphemy to continue unchecked.