Kano Death Sentence: CAN Will Not Encroach On Sharia Law, Says Chairman

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) will not intervene in the death sentence pronounced on one Yahaya Sharif-Aminu for blaspheming against Prophet Muhammad in Kano State, THE WHISTLER reports.

The Kano CAN Chairman, Rev. Adeolu Samuel Adeyemo, gave this submission in an interview with THE WHISTLER on Wednesday.

The upper Sharia Court in Hausawa Filin Hockey, Kano, had sentenced Sharif-Aminu to death by hanging for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad in a song he sang and shared to a WhatsApp group.

The convict was said to have violated section 382 (6) of the Kano State Sharia Penal Code Law 2000, by inciting religious creed in the state.

Sharif-Aminu had pleaded guilty during his arraignment before Khadi Aliyu Muhammad Kani of the said court on Monday.

This website spoke to the Kano CAN chairman to know if the Christian organization will intervene by appealing to the authorities to reverse the death sentence.

But Rev. Adeyemo told our correspondent: “One thing that is there is…this is according to the Islamic Law; we do not react or do anything about it. It is about religion…their faith. And it is not a trumped-up charge. What the Sharia law says, they have used it, so CAN has no any other reaction to that. It is according to the Islamic religion. So, CAN has nothing to react to or to ask any question about it.

“This is the law (Sharia)…It is like leaving your house to go into another man’s house, what do you call that one? Encroachment. So, CAN shouldn’t [intervene or interfere] because they have looked at all the aspects and they have said this is what the Islamic law says. So, CAN cannot do anything about it,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Tijaniyya Islamic movement, which Sharif-Aminu reportedly belongs to, has distanced itself from the convict’s action.

The group said the 22-year-old’s action contravened the teachings of Sheikh Ibrahim Inyas who, until his recent death, was a leader of the Tijaniyya Islamic movement in West Africa.

“We, the disciples of Shehu Inyas, believe that the death sentence on anyone who violates the dignity of the Prophet S.W.A is justified,” Muhammad Nura Arzai, the chairman of the Tijaniyya Circle Council in Kano, told the BBC Hausa on Wednesday.