The Saudi Arabian Government has released a Nigerian who was wrongly arrested and detained in 2017 for bringing drugs into the country.
Malam Ibrahim Ibrahim, an indigene of Zamfara State, Nigeria, was received by Governor of the state, Ibrahim Matawalle, on Tuesday.
Receiving the detainee in Government House on Tuesday, Governor Bello Matawalle commended the Saudi government for keeping its promise.
Matawalle said he was in Saudi Arabia several times to beg the Saudi government to release the victim, who he said, was wrongly arrested for drug trafficking.
Ibrahim, a Muslim cleric, began his journey to Saudi Arabian prison and eventual freedom when he travelled to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj – also known as Umrah – in March 2017.
When he arrived at the King Abdulazeez International Airport in Jeddah he was arrested and charged for drug trafficking, an alleged offence he would spend three years for.
Saudi Arabia has stringent drug trafficking laws. Offenders are sentenced to death and summarily executed. And Ibrahim was tried, found guilty and sentenced to death.
However, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria through government agencies intervened and a retrial was granted. The trial was held on February 18, 2020 with necessary documentary evidences presented. Malam Ibrahim was eventually discharged and freed of the allegation of drug trafficking.
The documentary evidences provided included a written statement by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) stating that they have arrested and charged three persons who planted the drugs on the defendant and a certified copy of the two counts charge sheet from the Federal High Court Kano.