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Sharia’ Law Takes Effect In Northern Nigeria's Kano State
by Aminu Abubakar
KANO, Nigeria (AFP) - Strict Islamic Sharia’ law banning consumption of alcohol, prostitution, stealing, gambling and other vices came into force Sunday in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest state.
The bill enforces bans on these and other activities listed when the code was adopted at a mass rally attended by around one million people last June.
Since the northwestern state of Zamfara took the lead in introducing Sharia’ law last January, at least seven other states in northern Nigeria have introduced or declared plans to introduce the Islamic code despite opposition by Christians and the Nigerian federal government.
Kano Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso signed the bill into law, and said it would apply only to Muslims. He appealed to state residents to abide by it, warning that those who took laws into their own hands would be punished.
Despite it’s coming into force, brothels and beer halls continued to operate freely in Kano on Sunday.
The Christian Association of Nigeria expressed fears that Christians would be prosecuted under Sharia’ in the states where it has been adopted. Human rights bodies in Nigeria have also slammed its introduction.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian from the southwest, said that those who feel aggrieved by the law should seek judicial redress.
Nigeria, a secular state under the constitution, has witnessed in the past 20 years dozens of religious riots and crises in which thousands of people have been killed.
Kano city is Nigeria's second largest commercial center after Lagos. It is also the country's second largest city after Lagos in terms of population.
The Kano bill was presented to the governor by the speaker of parliament, Abdullahi Ibrahim Gwarmai, at the governor's office on the first day of Ramadan, Islam's holy fasting month.
Kano Emir Ado Bayero, politicians, top government officials, Islamic scholars and teachers and businessmen witnessed the signing.
A cow thief had his hand amputated shortly after the law came into force in Zamfara state, while several people have been publicly flogged in the same state over adultery, fornication or drinking.
The governor on Saturday formally swore in more than 60 judges for the Sharia’ courts which have been set up under the law, a government spokesman had told AFP earlier.
The judges have been given six weeks of training in administering the Islamic code.
Details of the contents of the code for Kano were not revealed.
"I, as a person, and even the governor, cannot tell you what it contains. It is the responsibility of the Sharia’ Implementation Committee to interpret and enforce the contents of the code," the governor's religious affairs adviser, Tahar Mahmoud, told AFP.
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