A team of 34 lawyers are to defend the two suspects arrested over the lynching of Deborah Emmanuel, a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education.
The team of lawyers for the two suspects is being led by their lead counsel, Mansur Ibrahim, who announced their appearance for the two suspects during their arraignment.
On Monday, the police in Sokoto had arraigned the two suspects, Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci, before a Magistrates’ Court.
But following the rejection of their lawyers’ bail request by the court, two suspects were remanded in the Correctional Centre in Sokoto.
Earlier, during the court proceedings, the suspects had pleaded not guilty to the murder of their deceased colleague.
The prosecutor Khalil Musa, had told the court that the police are currently investigating the circumstances that surrounding the killing of Deborah on the college campus last Thursday.
But the defence counsel, Mansur Ibrahim, who is leading a team of 34 lawyers for the arraigned suspects, applied for bail on behalf of their clients.
Ibrahim had argued in his application for bail for the suspects that the request was in line with constitutional provisions and sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
The presiding magistrate(name withheld for security reasons), however, reserved ruling on the bail application.
He then ordered that the suspects be remanded at the correctional centre in the state.
Deborah was last Thursday attacked by a mob that lynched her and set her body ablaze for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad.
A video showing Deborah being stoned and beaten with sticks by her fellow students later went viral on social media.
The incident sparked instant outrage and drew vehement condemnation across the country.
The police in Sokoto later arrested two suspects in connection with the killing.
On Saturday, protests against the suspects’ arrest resulted in violence in Sokoto.
The development led to the imposition of a 24-hour curfew by Governor Aminu Tambuwal.
