Religious freedom: Nigerian Lawyer shines bright, receives U.S Secretary award

Religious freedom: Nigerian Lawyer shines bright, receives U.S Secretary award

The U.S Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken has honoured a Nigerian lawyer with the Secretary of State’s international Religious Freedom Award for his indefatigable efforts in ensuring that the religious freedoms of citizens of Nigeria and across the globe are sustained.

Kola Alapinni, an international human rights lawyer has been at the forefront of defending the defenceless using his profession to liberate those who fall victim to incongruous and inhumane laws especially in Nigeria.

The Nigerian born lawyer has during the course of his twenty-five year career earned a reputation for digging up facts from local laws and international conventions to secure the lives, dignity and rights of many, challenging laws and edicts that are inconsistent with the universal fundamental human rights as declared by the United Nations (UN).

One of the landmark achievements that earned him international recognition in the field of international human rights law was when he decided to challenge the judgement of a Sharia court in Kano State Nigeria, which sentenced a young man, (Yahaya Sharif-Aminu) to death for blasphemy. The courageous lawyer defied threats from religious institutions and appealed the Khadis’ judgement up to the Supreme court using the instrumentality of available laws, while drawing support from local and international human rights organisations to ensure that the young man did not die as a victim of religious intolerance.

Among the several rights that are fundamental to every human being on earth, the United Nations believes that each human regardless of where they live, should have the right to practice any religion they choose, and freely express themselves so long as it brings no harm to other humans around them.
Drawing from this provision and several others, Kola Alapinni challenged the decision of the Sharia court and its jurisdiction to sentence Sharif to death for blasphemy even though it is not recognised by the Nigerian constitution insisting that Nigeria is signatory to many international conventions and that the criminal aspects of the Sharia law in itself had become obsolete and inapplicable in Nigeria being a secular and not an Islamic or religious State.

The international human rights lawyer continues to soldier on as a defender of the rights of ordinary citizens, bringing hope and succour to many.

Olugbenga George writes from Abuja, Nigeria
He can be contacted via email: gbsamson37@gmail.com