The embattled leader of Jama’atu Ahlussunnah Lid Da’awati Wal Jihad otherwise known as Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has released 11 minutes audio in which he faulted the death sentencing of a man accused of blasphemy in Kano State.

Yahaya Sherif Aminu was sentenced to death by hanging in Kano State for insulting Prophet Muhammad in a song he shared on WhatsApp in March.

“We heard about something sad happening in the state where people think they are Muslims, even though they are practicing disbelief,” Shekau stated.

“A singer opened his mouth and uttered unkind words against the Prophet (PBUH). It was said he was arrested and sentenced to death by hanging.

“According to some people, he can appeal the judgement. But what brought this if the sentence is godly?”

Shekau was saying this because an upper Shari’a court judge who sentenced the singer, Alkali Aliyu Muhammad Kani, said the accused could appeal the verdict within 30 days even though he did not deny the charges.

Shekau claimed that everyone knows that all schools of Islamic jurisprudence opine that whoever insults the Prophet should not be asked to repent.

“He should just be killed. If you really sentenced him, we should only hear that you slaughtered him,” he said.

Shekau added that Kano is not an Islamic State, calling it a land of infidels where democracy is practiced.

“You are not in an Islamic State. You are in the land of infidels. The only exception among you is a weak person who holds ‘Tawhid’ (monotheism). He can’t be declared as an infidel, but he is a sinner because he didn’t migrate.”

The western lifestyle of Kano people itself, according to Abubakar Shekau, is an insult to the Prophet Muhammad.

“Before he insulted the Prophet (PBUH), your lifestyle is an insult itself. Your lifestyle is also blasphemy against the Prophet. How can you say you love someone and you slap him?”

In the audio, Shekau blasted the Kano State for practicing democracy. He said the state allows everyone to do what they like.

Referring to the people of Kano, Shekau said “just because you sit down and recite Quran after you have already done what made you unbelievers? And because you say there is no god but Allah, you think you are Muslims? We tell you, you and the one who insulted the Prophet are all the same.”

This is not the first time a death sentence was passed in Kano State. Abdulaziz Inyass who belong to the extremists in the Tijaniyya Sufi Order is still in detention after he was sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2016.

Abdulaziz was accused of saying that Sheikh Ibrahim Inyass, an influential cleric in West Africa, was ‘bigger than Prophet Muhammad.’