Adesina Idris

London, May 11, 2019 (AltAfrica)-Zainab Aliyu, the young Nigerian girl recently released by Saudi Arabian authorities on wrong charge of peddling drugs needs no introduction.

She is the young Nigerian girl with nine lives whom providence brought back to life from the clutches of Saudi Arabian hangmen

Zainab Aliyu, a Nigerian student who travelled for Lesser Hajj with her mother was arrested by Saudi Security Officials on Dec. 26, 2018, in a hotel in Madinah. She was accused of possessing a bag containing illicit drugs purportedly bearing a tag with her name.

Zainab who was accused of entering Saudi Arabia with an illegal dose of Tramadol was later discovered to be a victim of a cartel that specialized in keeping hard drugs in travellers’ bags.

According widely reported information, some members of the drug cartel are already in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Amnesty International and many Nigerians on Monday night campaigned for Zainab’s release.

Amnesty said: Saudi Arabian authorities must free Zainab Habibu Aliyu. Her ordeal shows everything wrong with death penalty. Let us raise our voices, until Zainab is free. No one knows who can be the next victim of such injustice. #FreeZainab #Nigeria #ZainabIsInnocent”

The punishment for her offence under Saudi Arabian law is death penalty. But Zainab was not executed. She was released on April 30, after about four months in detention awaiting execution

Zainab’s ordeal in the hand of Saudi authorities is well known to Nigerians and the entire world. However, what is not known is that Zainab has had a near brush with death also in the company of her mother about four years before the Saudi ordeal

Alternativeafrica.com can exclusively report that Zainab and her mum were on that unfortunate day became victims of armed robbery some few meters away from home with the car they drove riddled with bullets.

Fortunately, the young Zainab and her mum escaped that gruesome ordeal without a scratch. The car driven by her mum was riddled with fourteen bullets by the armed bandits

Asked how her wife, Zainab’s mum had handled the situation when informed of her daughter’s situation,, Habibu Nuhu Kila, zainab father an Assistant Director with Radio Nigeria narrated the story to Alternativeafrica.com “If i tell you a story will you believe it? My wife, she and the same daughter of mine (Zainab) were sometime, some four years ago attacked, and we had to remove fourteen bullets in her car. None of the bullets touched them. She is a very strong woman. She handled it. Even my daughter, Zainab who was also a victim was praying for the mother

Asked of his initial reaction after been informed of Zainab’d predecament he said ” My initial reaction was that it is an act of God and I thought, God has so many ways to test human beings. I said to myself; this is how I am going to be tested by God. Secondly, I said I couldn’t just sit down, fold my arms and see my innocent girl suffer for what she knew nothing about. But I tried to manage the family and myself because if I am down, the entirely family will be down. And whenever I am worried, I know that God will see us through and God has seen us through.

I must thank every Nigerian for everything. This issue brought unity to the country because Nigerians were united as they prayed for my family. You know, there were demonstrations and agitations in some places for our cause. Some people I had never met were ready to stand by me. I thank Nigerians, the international community and most especially president Muhammadu Buhari and his wife. She is a true mother.