An Upper Sharia Court in Niger State Monday condemned to death the first lovers for adultery.
The lovers Ahmadu Ibrahim and Fatima Usman were sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery by the presiding judge of Upper Sharia Court, New Gawu, Gurara Local Govern-ment area of the state, Mallam Abdulraham Alhassan Tundun Fulani
The lovers were arraigned before the Sharia court on May 28 this year for committing adultery contrary to Sections 387 and 388 of the penal code as amended in cap 94 laws of Niger State of 2000.
According to the prosecuting police officer, Inspector Yusuf Musa, Fatima's father, Mallam Usman Umaru, lodged a complaint at the Lambata Police Station, Lambata, alleging that Ahmadu impregnated his daughter out of wedlock.
When the charges were read to the two accused persons, they pleaded guilty and were committed to a five-year jail term on August 5 by the trial judge, Tundun Fulani.
But the case took a new turn when Fatima's father protested the jail term handed down to his daughter. This, THISDAY gathered, led to memo by the state judiciary faulting the judgement of the Sharia court judge.
According to our source, the judiciary noted that the judgement was based on an old penal code that had been amended since 2000, when the state adopted Sharia.
The trial judge thereafter called for the case file and commenced a re-trial, before passing a verdict of guilt on the lovers under sections 387 and 388 of the amended penal code 2000.
Committing the accused persons in absentia (as they are in mates of Suleja prisons), this Tunkun Fulani said "any Moslem who agreed to have committed adultery," is liable for punishment as prescribed by Hadith Mootar- Malik on Page 43, which empowered the judge to punish offenders without necessarily looking for witnesses.
He then ordered that the two should be stoned to death, citing copiously from Fiqi'u Sunnah Volume 3 page 329.
The judge, however, gave 30 days to the convicts to file appeal against the verdict of the court, if not satisfied. He also ordered that Fatima, who is pregnant should be stoned to death after delivering and weaning her child.
Efforts to get the state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Barrister Umar Kawu to comment were fruitless, as he was said to have travelled out of town for the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) convention in Ibadan.
However, the state chairman of Moslem Lawyers Forum, Mohammed Awwal Bida condemned the trial judge for re-visiting the case.
"The judge should have referred the case to another court or the court of Appeal," Bida said adding that his association will be prepared to represent the convicts if contacted.
"If we are contacted we are prepared to handle the brief. It is not proper for the trial judge to entertain the case again, having erred and judged the case before. The judge erred in law," he said.
Only Tuesday Jigawa State said one Mallam Ado Baranda would be stoned to death after he refused to appeal his conviction by a Sharia court for the rape of a nine-year-old girl.
And in Katsina State, Amina Lawal whose conviction to death by stoning was upheld last week by an Upper Sharia court filed a stay of execution of the judgement at the Sharia Court of Appeal sitting in Funtua.
Amina's case has attracted national and international condemnation. President Olusegun Obasanjo said he would weep for Nigeria should Amina be killed but the Katsina State Government has vowed not to intervene.