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Following public outcry, Saudi authorities release Zainab Aliyu

AUTHORITIES in Saudi Arabia have released Zainab Aliyu, a Nigerian lady being detained in the country on suspicion of being a drug trafficker.

According to Channels Television, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mustapha Lawal Sulaiman, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, adding that Ibrahim Abubakar, the second Nigerian involved in the case, would be released tomorrow,

This is coming just one day after a public outcry on social media prompted the Presidency into action.

The hashtag, #FreeZainabAliyu, had trended all day on Monday in Nigeria, prompting responses from officials of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Abike Dabiri, Senior Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on International Relations and the Diaspora, had assured that the government was aware of the situation and had been working for Aliyu’s release together with two other Nigerians also being held in Saudi Arabia.

“We have been on this in the last two weeks. President Buhari has directed the AGF to take necessary action. We are making good progress. She will be back, along with 2 others in the same situation,” Dabiri promised.



Zainab Aliyu, said to be an undergraduate of Maitama Sule University, Kano, was arrested in Saudi Arabia where she had gone on Hajj pilgrimage in December 2018.

Reports had it that a suitcase which had Zainab’s nametag on it was found to be filled with the banned drug, Tramadol. She was subsequently arrested as all her explanations that she was not the owner of the luggage fell on deaf ears.




     

     

    Already on Tuesday, the Nigerian Senate had formed an ad-hoc panel to look into Zainab Aliyu’s matter and find ways of securing her release. Members of the committee include Kabiru Gaya, Abdullahi Adamu, Aliyu Wamakko, Sam Egwu, Baba Kaka, Monsurat Sunmonu and Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    Zainab’s release comes as a huge relief to many Nigerians who had feared that she could be executed as was Kudirat Adesola Afolabi, another Nigerian lady who was sentenced to death in Saudi Araba after she was found guilty of drug trafficking.

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    Afolabi was executed in late March this year despite investigations having revealed that she was innocent and that the real perpetrators were members of a drug syndicate at the Kano Airport who had checked in a suitcase full of hard drugs in her name without her knowledge.

    Abike Dabiri disclosed at the time that Afolabi was the eighth Nigerian and the 53rd person to be executed in Saudi in 2019 alone. Many other Nigerians remain in death row in Saudi Arabia, a country that has zero tolerance for drug-related offences and usually punishes offenders with execution.

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