The Federal Government stepped into the recent death...

The Federal Government stepped into the recent death sentence passed on Safiya Tungar-Tudu, 33, by a Sharia court in Sokoto State, with the Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige declaring that Abuja would not fold its hands and watch her being killed.
But the Sokoto State Government says her fate will be decided by an appeal court.
Chief Ige, speaking on a Voice of America (VOA) news programme, "Africa World Tonight," said, "the matter has been taken up by the Federal Government and I want to say that this type of thing will not happen in Nigeria of 2001."
Chief Ige who was reacting to concerns by Nigerian lawyers in New York on alleged rising cases of human rights abuses in Nigeria, faulted the death sentence passed on the pregnant woman, describing it as "harsh and crude."
While assuring Nigerians and the international community that Safiya would not be killed, Chief Ige lamented the politicisation of the Islamic legal code in some parts of the country.
Chief Ige explained that the present application of Sharia law was no longer what it was when the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello conceived the Islamic legal system for Northern Muslims.
"Some of our brothers in the Northern part of the country have made so much politics out of the Sharia and it is denting the image of Nigeria," he said.
However, the Sokoto State Government says an appeal court will eventually determine her fate. The appeal hearing is due on November 27 at the Sokoto State Sharia Court of Appeal amid local and international criticisms against the death sentence.
Sokoto State Justice Commissioner, Aliyu Abubakar Saina said the government will allow the appeal court to determine Tungar-Tudu's fate.
If Tungar-Tudu's appeal fails, the sentence is that she should be buried in a hole up to her neck and stoned on the head until she dies.
Nigerian human rights groups have called the sentence a "war on the constitution" of the secular federal nation as well as a violation of her rights. The justice commissioner's announcement appeared to be a reversal of the previous position taken by Sokoto State authorities. In October, Information Commissioner, Attahiru Mai-Akwai Gwadabawa said the lower court's decision was "irreversible" because it was based on the Islamic legal code.
"Changing the rules in favour of the accused person as it is being advocated by some human rights organisations will contradict the principles of Sharia (strict Islamic law)," he added.