Blasphemy: Buhari’s media aide Bashir Ahmad under fire over 2015 comments supporting death sentence

Bashir Ahmad

Bashir Ahmad a social media aide of President Muhammadu Buhari is getting the heat from Nigerians on Twitter over comments he made in July 2015 supporting death sentence for blasphemy.

“I can’t pretend or keep silent. I support the death penalty for BLASPHEMY. That’s my belief and I do not and will never support #SaveKanoNine,” he wrote on July 1, 2015.

His statements were culled up in the wake of the death sentence handed to a 22-year-old man by a Kano Upper Shari’a Court on Monday for blaspheming Prophet Muhammad.

Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a resident of Sharifai in Kano metropolis, was accused of committing blasphemy against the prophet in a song he circulated via WhatsApp in March.

Mr Ahmad was at the time of the comments made on Twitter referring to the outrage that greeted a Sharia Court ruling sentencing nine people to death in Kano State for blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.

The alleged offence was committed in June 2015 at a religious gathering in honour of Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse, the Senegalese founder of the Tijjaniya Islamic sect, which has a large following across West Africa.

The singer who was sentenced on Monday is a follower of Tijjaniya sect.

See what Nigerians are saying about the presidential aide below: