President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) to wade into the case of Ibrahim Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, a Nigerian cleric on death row in Saudi Arabia for drug trafficking, was brought to the attention of the president by Governor Bello Mutawalle of Zamfara state.
According to a statement release by Zailani Bappa, media aide to Mutawalle, Ibrahim, an indigene of the state, was wrongly arrested.
“Governor Matawalle yesterday met with President Muhammadu Buhari and appealed on behalf of Ibrahim Ibrahim whose judgement is scheduled for next week, on charges of drug trafficking,” the statement read.
“Ibrahim, an Islamic cleric, was wrongly arrested in Saudi Arabia and arraigned before the court but could not sufficiently prove his case due to lack of a lawyer. He was earlier cleared by two lower courts in Jedda for lack of evidence on the part of the prosecution.
“However, the prosecution appealed against him in Makkah where he was expected to have a lawyer or risk execution judgement.
“To this end, President Muhammadu Buhari has already directed the Minister of of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to handle the matter appropriately in order to save the innocent life of Ibrahim Ibrahim.”
The Nigerian government had in April, secured the release of Zainab Aliyu, a student of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), who was also detained on drug trafficking charges by the government of Saudi Arabia.
