Students and followers of Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara, a Kano-based Islamic cleric, have condemned what they described as a gang-up by antagonists working against efforts to get justice for the cleric.
They made the condemnation while addressing a press conference at the NUJ press centre, Kano on Sunday.
“Recall that a Sharia Court had passed judgement on him, but we his followers have since filed an appeal before a High Court of Justice because of our dissatisfaction with the previous judgement in line with the right of appeal enshrined in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria,” they said.
The followers, who spoke through Engr. Ibrahim Abdullahi Warure, said it had however come to their notice that “the same clerics who ganged up to make the first allegations” that caused Sheikh Abduljabbar’s arraignment in court were now issuing threats to the incoming administration of Kano state and the court where the appeal was filed that they should not dare to release him.
They alleged that the antagonists were not willing to allow justice to prevail in Sheikh Abduljabbar’s case, and were hell-bent on persecuting him and denying him justice and fair judgement at all costs as a citizen of the nation by issuing threats to the government and the court.
“We condemn their endemic campaign of calumny against our revered Sheikh and their threat to the court which we consider a contempt of court and government.
“We also view it as a sinister plan to disrupt the peace of the state and country, should Sheikh Abduljabbar eventually triumph in court,” the followers further alleged.
They called on security agencies and the relevant authorities to “call the clerics to order by asking them to desist from hate speeches against us and our religious leader, for we are bonafide citizens of the country.”