This Day

NIGERIA: Judiciary'll Decide Safiya's Case, Says Bafarawa

The Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, has said that the judiciary should be allowed to decide the case of the convicted adulteress, Safiya Tungar-Tudu. MO Bafarawa said "I am yet to see the judgment officially."

 Exchanging views with members of the correspondent chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Sokoto on Saturday, t Bafarawa said: "Since the case is in the court, the law should be allowed to take its due course." MO "The Sharia Appeal court, Sokoto, has already suspended the death sentence passed on Safiya by the Gwadabawa lower Sharia court," Bafarawa explained. "According to Islamic law, Safiya is as free as everybody, and nobody has ever arrested her," he said.

 He said Safiya would have to report to the court periodically and would be required to come back after delivery, adding that on reporting after delivery, she was still entitled to a two-year grace period before any sentence could be carried out. Said Bafarawa: "In spite of the international and domestic hue and cry about Safiya, the appellate court should be allowed to decide her fate."

 He urged all those lambasting the state government on Safiya's sentence to acquaint themselves with the provisions of the Islamic sharia code.

 Tungar who has since delivered a healthy baby boy, was sentenced to death by stoning some months ago by the Gwadabawa S|haria Court over Unsatisfied with the judgment, she appealed against the case in the Sharia Appeal Court, Sokoto where the case is still pending.