Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasir Kabara, a cleric from Kano, has filed a petition with the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), claiming that both the judiciary and state authorities are intentionally suppressing his appeals against a death sentence for alleged blasphemy.
In a 14-page document titled "Letter of Further Complaint", submitted to the Supreme Court on March 26, Kabara asserts that his conviction is not only unjust but also a politically motivated attempt to silence him.
He alleges that influential individuals within Nigeria, along with foreign actors, conspired to mold him into a figure similar to Ayatollah Khomeini, a role he rejected, resulting in his persecution.
Kabara was sentenced to death by hanging by an Upper Sharia Court in Kano in December 2022 for purportedly making blasphemous comments about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
This ruling has provoked significant debate within Kano, where religious sentiments run high. Following his sentencing, he was transferred to the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje, Abuja.
In his petition, Kabara vocally criticizes what he describes as the suppression of his legal appeals. He mentioned that while he submitted a notice of appeal in December 2022 along with subsequent motions in 2024, he insists that his documents were either deliberately stalled or destroyed by the judiciary.
He further accuses appellate judges of manipulating dates and misrepresenting his submissions to benefit the state.
Additionally, Kabara claims that his noncompliance with a supposed plan to elevate him to a revolutionary status akin to Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini incited aggression from both political and religious leaders.
He also points to foreign influence, recounting encounters with Iranian diplomats and Nigerian officials who allegedly attempted to engage him in a foreign-backed agenda.
Kabara claims he was even approached with generous offers, including contracts amounting to ₦500 million, which he rejected. Moreover, he alleges that Adamu Adamu, a former Education Minister, orchestrated his troubles, including deploying armed forces to raid his residence and mosque.
The cleric also points to a collusion between government lawyers and judges aimed at tampering with his case records. He contends that his trial violated Section 38(1) of the Nigerian Constitution, which upholds the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
Perhaps most alarmingly, Kabara details an incident where he was allegedly tricked into consuming a “mixed liquid,” allegedly part of a scheme to convert him into a revolutionary leader.
He also mentions that after he declined to cooperate, the former governor of Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje, publicly compared him to Maitatsine, a notorious preacher linked to deadly riots in the 1980s.
Kabara’s petition culminates in a request for intervention from the CJN, portraying himself as a “patriot unjustly incarcerated for five years without committing any offense.”
He insists that his death sentence has been legitimized through a “defective judgment” and warns that his situation exemplifies a severe miscarriage of justice.
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