“The Sufi preacher, from Sunni Islam who are the majority among Nigerian Muslims, was accused of having issued statement considered to have mocked the prophet during a religious ceremony.” It isn’t really very likely that a Muslim cleric mocked Muhammad, but the verdict is what it is. In the West, meanwhile, we are more civilized. Those who are deemed to have mocked Muhammad are not sentenced to death; they’re just vilified, ostracized, and denounced for “bigotry.”
“Kano court sentences cleric to death for blaspheming Prophet Mohammed,” by Travis Underwood, The Post Oracle, January 6, 2016:
KANO- A sharia court in Kano has sentenced a Tijjaniyya cleric, Abdul Inyass to death for blasphemy.
The court upheld the death sentence passed on Dauda [i.e., Abdul Inyass] by a lower Sharia court. The verdict ends nine months of secret trial of the cleric.
Inyass and 13 others were arrested last May in Kano during a religious functions in the volatile city for blasphemy.
Abdulaziz Audu, commonly known as Abdul Inyas [sic], was arrested on August 18 previous year, following which he was taken to Kano to face trial for blasphemy and inciting violence that led to the burning of a Sharia court.
State counsel, Lamido Sorondinki, said five witnesses, including the police, had testified before the court. An Upper Sharia court Rijiya Lemu had in June a year ago sentenced Inyass’ accomplices which included a woman and 8 others to death.
The Sufi preacher, from Sunni Islam who are the majority among Nigerian Muslims, was accused of having issued statement considered to have mocked the prophet during a religious ceremony.
A statement by the Registrar, Kano Sharia court of Appeal signed by one Alhaji Nasiru last June stated that 8 persons were found guilty in accordance with section 110 and 302 of the penal code procedure, but Inyass sentence was delayed.