How supporting a pardon helps the US uplift Africa’s largest democracy

Nigeria’s outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari, has a major opportunity to redeem his legacy before his term concludes on May 29, and the Biden administration has good reason to play a role. 

After winning two landslide victories and serving as president for eight years, Buhari is leaving office with the country in disarray and with few accomplishments to brag about. But an opportunity to pardon a young Muslim man unjustly languishing in federal prison could provide Buhari one last chance to leave office as a model for Nigeria’s future.  

When he was first elected, Buhari’s supporters had high hopes that he would deliver the peace and economic prosperity Nigerians long for. But, two terms later, even his former supporters admit that these hopes have “floundered on almost every measure.” The average income per person in Nigeria has decreased. Violence has measurably increased. And an unprecedented number of attacks on electoral offices have landed Nigeria — Africa’s largest democracy by population — in an even more fragile political position than it was eight years ago.  

Although Buhari’s administration claimed that he had made “organizing a peaceful, free and fair election process a cornerstone of [his] legacy,” the country’s February presidential elections were fraught with violence and allegations of fraud and made history for astoundingly low voter turnout (less than 30 percent).  

With less than a month before his term comes to an end, Buhari’s political opponents are now calling upon the international community to impose sanctions and travel bans on him and his affiliates for their alleged manipulation of the 2023 elections. Even international voices such as the United Nations have condemned Buhari’s government for its failure to protect human rights and put an end to impunity for terrorism and other serious crimes.  

But, amidst the widespread disappointment and condemnation, the world is now watching to see if President Buhari will seize an eleventh hour opportunity to positively impact his legacy.

The opportunity centers around a criminal case in Kano State that has drawn the close attention of the international community. The case concerns a young Muslim musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, who was sentenced to death by hanging for alleged blasphemy after he shared peaceful messages about his Sufi beliefs. While he awaits a retrial and has appealed his case to the Supreme Court, government officials from around the world — including the United Kingdom, United States, United Nations and a near-unanimous European Parliament — have been calling upon President Buhari to pardon Sharif-Aminu before his successor, Bola Tinubu, takes power.  

In 2020, Sharif-Aminu shared two audio messages with a WhatsApp group that contained song lyrics about his minority branch of Islam, Sufism. His messages were deemed offensive to Islam by some of the group’s members, who banded together and formed a mob that burned down Sharif-Aminu’s childhood home. Instead of focusing on the victims of this heinous crime, the police instead went after Sharif-Aminu, charging him under Northern Nigeria’s most egregious blasphemy law that carries a punishment of death. Without even having legal representation, he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death by hanging for his messages about his religious beliefs.

Several appeals later, including one currently before Nigeria’s Supreme Court, Sharif-Aminu’s fate is unclear. But his case has become the poster child for the weaponization of blasphemy and other censorship laws around the world that are designed to silence minority viewpoints at any cost. 

Pardoning Sharif-Aminu would do more than restore to freedom a young and innocent Muslim man who has been suffering in prison for three years. A pardon would also signal across Nigeria that the country’s leaders will fight for the human rights of their people, especially those from marginalized minority religious groups. It would allow Buhari to set an example for President-elect Tinubu — to pass the baton of power while demonstrating how to wield it rightly.  

In pardoning Sharif-Aminu, Buhari would also be taking a leadership role in the wider African region. He would be sending the clear message that blasphemy laws, archaic and draconian provisions patently in violation of international human rights law, must be repealed. As the European Parliament’s recent Urgency Resolution unequivocally stated, the case provides “an unprecedented opportunity” for Nigeria to “lead the way” towards abolishing blasphemy laws throughout “Africa and the Muslim world.”

World leaders must continue pressuring Nigeria to take action. The United States, in particular, should urge Buhari to pardon Sharif-Aminu. Doing so could help the Biden administration to smooth over a blemish on its own record, after the State Department left many human rights groups and leaders outraged by its failure last year to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom violations. 

The administration may well be interested in helping Buhari to see the attractiveness of stepping into the spotlight to pardon Sharif-Aminu, as it has been positioning itself as a key supporter of African development and human rights issues since the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022. During the summit, President Buhari himself spoke at the U.S. Institute of Peace, signaling a basis for collaboration between the two governments.  

Thus, in urging Buhari to pardon Sharif-Aminu, the U.S. can, in a single move, advance its priorities and help to appease its critics.

Sharif-Aminu’s case provides Buhari with a way to exit as a transformational leader. But, of course, if he declines to take this redeeming step before his term comes to an end this month, his failure will simply be one more move away from the brighter and freer future so many Nigerians had hoped for eight years ago. 

Kelsey Zorzi is an international human rights lawyer who serves as vice president of the U.N.’s NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief and director of advocacy for global religious freedom for ADF International. Her writings have appeared in several outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Hill, and Newsweek. Twitter: @KelseyZorzi.