Sani Muhammad Sani, Gusau

After four years on the death row in Saudi Arabia, Zamfara State-born cleric Hafeez Ibrahim Ibrahim was on Tuesday received by Governor Bello Muhammad Matawalle.

Ibrahim was rescued the Saudi hangman’s noose by the governor.

He faced the death penalty after he was wrongly charged with drug trafficking.

It was an emotional reception when Governor Matawalle handed him over to waiting arms of his family members, who had waited for nearly four years.

Hafeez Ibrahim who travelled to Saudi Arabia on February 11, 2017 to perform the Lesser Hajj was arrested by the police shortly after he has lodged into his hotel room.

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He was charged with the offence of drug trafficking following a bag full of banned substance linked to his passport details.

The cleric was found guilty in a lower Saudi court and also in the upper court. He was to be announced guilty and sentenced when Matawalle assumed office last year.

Determined to rescue him, the governor raised a team of experts with the help of the Federal Government to appeal the case. He engaged a team of Saudi lawyers for Ibrahim who proved to the court that the said bag did not belong to Hafeez Ibrahim.

Ibrahim was finally acquitted early this year but could not return home due to the restriction on international flights as a result of COVID-19

The cleric arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, yesterday following a night journey from Cotonou.