Abike Dabiri welcomes Zainab Aliyu home

Abike Dabiri Abike Dabiri-Erewa

Senior Special Assistant to the President on foreign affairs and diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has welcomed Zainab Aliyu back to the country.

Zainab arrived in Nigeria on Monday from Saudi Arabia where she was previously held for alleged drug trafficking offences.

Dabiri-Erewa’s office and that of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and other related agencies worked towards Zainab’s release.

“Welcome home Zainub Aliya from Saudi. So so excited. Big gratitude to our President @MBuhari for intervening to ensure that an innocent girl was not punished for an offense she did not commit,” Dabiri-Erewa wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Zainab, a student of Maitama Sule University, Kano, was arrested at a Saudi airport after a banned drug, tramadol, was found in her bag.

She claimed unknown persons planted it in her luggage.

The student had reportedly travelled from Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in company with her mother, Maryam Aliyu, and sister, Hajara Aliyu, but was arrested over allegations that a bag bearing her nametag contained the unlawful substance.