Alleged blasphemy: Shariah Court orders arrest of embattled Bauchi Imam, Abdul’aziz

<p>Upon his arraignment, he was remanded at the Bauchi correctional centre before he was eventually granted bail.</p>, <p>Speaking with journalists after the adjournment of the case, counsel to Idris, Barrister Ilellah attributed his absence in court to an undisclosed ailment, saying that, “The Imam was sick. That is why he could not attend the court sitting.”</p>, <p>“Unfortunately, the defendant could not come to court, but they have filed a notice of preliminary objection, challenging the jurisdiction of the court.</p>, <p>“We applied for a bench warrant to be issued against him since he has refused to come to court, and the court ruled in that favour,” the prosecutor said.</p>, <p>When the case was called during the court’s sitting on Wednesday, the cleric was absent in court, with the prosecuting counsel, Aliyu Bn Idris, saying that the defendant’s absence was deliberate.</p>, <p>Ilelah informed the defence had filed a motion, seeking an adjournment to enable the cleric to appear on the next adjourned date.</p>, <p>The embattled cleric was initially arraigned before the Bauchi Magistrate Court 1 by the state Commissioner of Police for alleged incitement to public disturbance of peace and blasphemy.</p>, <p>However, the case was transferred to the Upper Shariah Court of Appeal 1 Bauchi for trial.</p>, <p>The police had arraigned him before the court following a petition written against him, alleging that during one of his Tafsir sessions during this year’s holy month of Ramadan he made blasphemous comments against Prophet Mohammed and some notable Sufi clerics.</p>, <p>The prosecuting counsel, Idris explained to journalists that the case was transferred from Magistrate Court 1 to the Upper Shariah Court of Appeal in order to start afresh and lamented that the cleric was not in court for the commencement of trial.</p>, <p>He subsequently issued a bench warrant for the cleric’s arrest with a view to forcing him to appear before court at the next adjourned date.</p>, <p>“However, we argue that he is supposed to