After the Shar’ah court verdict sentenced Yahaya Aminu Shariff, a 22-year-old singer, to death in Kano state over blasphemy, renown Human Right Lawyer, Femi Falana, is set to take over the case as he has received the document of the ruling.
Babajido Ibrahim, spokesperson of the Kano state judiciary, made this known on Thursday, September 3, weeks after the singer was slammed with the judgement that is still drawing controversy.
Ibrahim said that certified copies of the verdict have been handed to the Falana’s representative on Wednesday, September 2, in Kano to enable the human right lawyer appeal.
The Kano judiciary spokesperson made this disclosure with less than seven days to the end of 30-day ultimatum Shariff was given to appeal the judgment.
“The judiciary received a request from Mr Femi Falana’s representative on Tuesday and certified copies of the judgment were made available to him on Wednesday,’’ Ibrahim said.
It would be recalled that in what generated a ripple of controversies, polarised opinions and led to outrage, an upper Shari’a court in Kano sentenced Sharif to death by hanging over allegations that he insulted Prophet Muhammad.
In a verdict by Khadi Aliyu Muhammad Kani of the Shariah court sitting at Hausawa Filin Hockey, the 22-year old singer was found guilty of blasphemy with the judgement stating that he composed a song in which verses were allegedly said to have been attributed to the prophet. The 22-year-old singer was also said to have circulated the insensitive song via WhatsApp in March 2020.
Governor Umar Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state has been urged to sign the death sentence of Sharif. The plea was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday, August 18, by Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) through its secretary-general, Nafi’u Baba-Ahmed.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has taken steps to intervene in the reported case of a musician Shariff who was sentenced to death in Kano state. The lawyers’ association in a statement issued by its publicity secretary, Dr Ernest Nduka, indicated that the NBA president, Olumide Akpata, has set up a two-man fact-finding committee to look into the matter.
