Abduljabbar: Followers decry attempt to block appeal against death sentence

By Aminu Garko

Followers of Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru-Kabara, sentenced to death in Kano for blasphemy, have decried alleged attempts to block the appeal he filed against the court judgment.

Ibrahim-Abdullahi Warure, who spoke on behalf of the followers in a press conference on Sunday in Kano, accused some clerics of mounting pressure to dismiss the appeal.

According to Warure, the clerics have allegedly being mounting pressure on the incoming government and the court to support the death sentence.

He said that the followers would continue to pursue the case currently before the High Court in Kano until justice is done to their spiritual leader.

According to him, the appeal is an inalienable right of the cleric as enshrined in the Constitution of Nigeria.

He advised the “antagonistic” clerics to allow the court to do its job without any form of interference.

“We condemn their endemic campaign of calumny against our revered Sheikh and their threat to the court which we consider a contempt of court and government,” Warure added.

He urged security agencies to call those opposed to the appeal to order, so that they would not use it as a ploy to disrupt the peace in the event “Sheikh Abduljabbar eventually triumph in court”.

The cleric was on July 17, 2021 imprisoned for blasphemy and subsequently sentenced to death by hanging on Dec. 15, 2022 by an Upper Shari’a Court in Kano.

He filed an appeal against the death sentence before a High Court in Kano.

(NAN)