Upper Sharia Court in Kano State has sentenced Kano Islamic cleric, Abduljabar Nasiru Kabara to death by hanging for blasphemy.
The embattled Nigerian cleric was arrested and detained by the state government for allegedly making blasphemous statements against Prophet Muhammad. According to the charge, his statements are capable of disrupting public peace.
Abduljabbar was charged on July 16, 2021, by the Kano state government before Justice Sarki Yola over alleged blasphemy and incitement.Abduljabbar Kabara is famous for his controversial religious commentaries and statements, which some Muslims have regarded as sacrilegious to Prophet Muhammad.
On Thursday, the court sentenced the cleric to death by hanging.
After delivering the judgement, Justice Sarki Yola gave the convict 30 days to appeal the judgment or forfeit his right to do so.
The judge also ordered the state government to seize two mosques belonging to Abduljabbar and called on all media to desist from using any of Abduljabbar’s teachings and pictures, Daily Trust reports.
Before giving his verdict, the judge said, “I am convinced that the prosecution counsel has done their part and proven their points beyond a reasonable doubt.”
He thereafter convicted the defendant of all the charges levelled against him.
However, there was a mild drama in court when Barrister Aminu Ado Abubakar, who stood as the defence counsel asked the court to accord leniency to Abduljabbar for he did what he did out of ignorance.
At that point, Abduljabbar stood up and said he did not know the lawyer.
According to the cleric, he was seeing the lawyer for the first time. Upper Sharia Court in Kano State has sentenced Kano Islamic cleric, Abduljabar Nasiru Kabara to death by hanging for blasphemy.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Ibrahim Sarki Yola, the presiding kadi(judge), said: “I am convinced that the prosecution counsel has done their part and proven their points beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Before pronouncing the sentence, the kadi asked if the convict had anything to say.
Subsequently, Aminu Abubakar, who appeared as the defence counsel, asked the court to be lenient with the accused, adding that he acted out of ignorance.
Speaking further, Abduljabbar said: “My lord, after I heard how you twisted all my evidence, you turned around all my submissions upside down, you have assigned words to me that I have never uttered.
“Deliver your judgement, and I am not asking for leniency at all. I want all my followers to know that I will die a hero and I don’t want you (the Judge) Ibrahim Sarki Yola to do me any favour or grant me leniency. This is my last word. Assalamu Alaikum.”
The convict was thereafter sentenced to death by hanging. The judge said Mr Kabara sacked his lawyers on the accusations that they were working against him. And at a point, he opted to defend himself without a lawyer, to which the court disagreed and provided a lawyer for him because of the gravity of the allegations against him.
The judge said he is satisfied that the state has proven the four-count charge filed against the cleric. The judge also dismissed the cleric’s arguments as a mere ‘academic exercise’.
The witnesses who testified against the cleric narrated how Mr Kabara on 10 August 2019 made allegedly blasphemous comments against the Holy Prophet Muhammad at two different religious gatherings in his mosque within Kano’s metropolis.
However, the judge said the court accepted the statements of the witnesses. The judge also relied on an audio recording, admitted to by the accused, where Mr Kabara was making the alleged blasphemous comments.
“The court admitted that the comments were made at a gathering at the cleric’s mosque at ‘Gwale Filin Mushe’ while addressing his followers who hailed him as he made the comments.
“The court after citing several references agreed that those comments by the cleric were admitted by the court as blasphemous comments against the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
The judge asked the defence counsel whether he has anything to present before the court before the final judgement was read. The defence counsel, Abubakar Ado, pleaded with the court for leniency on the ground that his client made the comments out of ignorance and asked to court to consider that the accused person was a breadwinner with wives and children.
However, while the defence counsel was making the plea for his client, the accused person, Mr Kabara, interrupted. He said he did not ask any lawyer to speak on his behalf and that whatever the lawyer said did not represent him.
He asked the court to allow him to speak for himself for the last time before the judgement was read.
The judge obliged his request.
Mr Kabara verbally attacked the judge. He accused him of being unfair and challenged him to sentence him to death.
While pointing at the judge, Mr Kabara said, “You Ibrahim Sarki Sani Yola, changed the whole narration about the case go ahead and sentence me to death, I will die honourably meeting my God.”
“And I am pleading to my followers not to worry about the sentencing as I will die as a righteous person,” Mr Kabara said while returning to his seat at the accused box.
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