Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, the musician that a Shari’a court in
Kano sentenced to death for blasphemy, has filed an appeal.
He was sentenced to death by hanging on August 10, after he
was found guilty of committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad in a song.
The development stirred an outcry
among many Nigerians.
Despite public outcry, the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria asked Kano state government to execute the court judgment.
Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, had said he would not
waste a minute to sign Sharif-Aminu’s death sentence if he failed to file an
appeal within 30 days.
In a suit filed at the Kano state high court on Thursday,
Kola Alanipini, Sharif-Aminu’s counsel, asked the court to set the judgement
aside.
Earlier on Thursday, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said Sharif-Aminu had been denied access to a lawyer.
Ernest Nduka, NBA national publicity secretary, said the
association has constituted a two-man fact-finding committee to visit the
singer.
He said the action was initiated by Olumide Akpata, NBA
president, in response to allegations on social media by Nigerians and calls by
members of the association that the federal correctional centre, Kano, denied
Sharif-Aminu access to his lawyers.
The committee comprising John Aikpokpo-Martins, NBA first
vice president, and Kunle Edun, its national welfare secretary, was mandated to
embark on a fact-finding mission to the correctional centre.
Nduka said the committee visited the correctional centre on
Wednesday but were denied access to the singer.
He said the NBA national officers found that the singer was
not represented by a lawyer during the trial at the upper Sharia court, adding
that Sharif-Aminu has not had access to any lawyer since his conviction.
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