U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

NIGERIA: Muslim group adopts Sharia in southern state

LAGOS, 2 May (IRIN) - A Muslim group in Nigeria's southern state of Oyo has
said it was adopting the Islamic legal code of Sharia after the state
government ignored their demands to implement the legal system.

Ishaq Sanni, who heads the National Council of Muslim Youths, told reporters
on Wednesday in the Oyo capital, Ibadan, he was the chairman of the
committee launching the religious code. He said the Sharia code adopted by
his group will only be limited to civil law and matters including marriage,
divorce, succession and inheritance, contract and land disputes.

"The state government has continued to deny us our rights to practice our
religion, and the need to obey the laws of Allah informed this decision,"
Sanni said. But he acknowledged that without state government backing, the
legal code would lack the force of law.

The move by the Muslim group follows the adoption by several states of the
strict Islamic legal code. Sharia prescribes, among other things, amputation
of limbs for stealing, stoning to death for adultery and flogging for
drinking of alcohol. In the past two years, at least a dozen northern states
have extended the application of Sharia from civil to criminal matters over
the period.

This has heightened tension between the two main religious groups in
Africa's most populous country, leading to frequent outbreaks of
ethno-religious violence in which thousands of people have died. Oyo State,
like most states in the ethnic Yoruba southwest has large populations of
Christians and Muslims that have historically co-existed peacefully. The
state governor, Lam Adeshina, is a Muslim.

Sanni said it would be voluntary for Muslims to bring cases before a panel
of Islamic scholars that would be adjudicating cases and abide by their
rulings. Those who refuse to abide by the rulings will face a range of
sanctions, including ostracism and "other extra-legal punishments" to be
determined by the council of Imams in the state, he said.

[ENDS]

IRIN-WA
Tel: +225 22-40-4440
Fax: +225 22-41-9339
Email: [email protected]
[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: [email protected] or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002