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Former Nigerian Military Ruler Advocates
Shari'ah, Clashes Continue
LAGOS, Nigeria, Aug 27 (News Agencies) - A former military ruler of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has called for the introduction of "total"
Shari'ah (Islamic law) across the country while Muslim-Christian clashes continued Monday, news agencies reported.
Buhari, who ruled Nigeria following a coup in December 1983 to his ouster in 1985, told a seminar in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, at the weekend that
Shari'ah should be introduced in full across Nigeria, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Shari'ah
movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria," Buhari said, quoted in press reports.
"God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the
Shari'ah in the country," Buhari said.
Last week, a Federal High Court in the northern Nigerian city of Kano began hearing a suit filed by Kano-based human rights group, Network for Justice, challenging the continued detention of Islamic scholar and leader of the Izala Muslim sect, Yakubu Musa, AFP reported.
Musa, whose group is committed to implementing Shari'ah, was arrested by security agents about a month ago at his base in nearby Katsina and taken to Abuja, the nation's capital.
He was arrested for calling for the formation of an Islamic political party, a state-run radio reported.
The president of The Supreme Council for Shari'ah in Nigeria, Ibrahim Dati Ahmed, cited the case of Yakubu Musa's detention as an example of the government's policy of arresting and detaining people without trial.
"It is very disheartening that after two years of our so-called new democracy, Nigerians are still living under an oppressive government," Ahmed was quoted by AFP as saying.
"The hope of Nigerians for a free and civilized society has become dented by arbitrary arrests and detention of its citizens, without trials, characteristic of military regimes," he added.
Ahmed said Yakubu's continued detention was unjustified.
"Sheikh Yakubu is a renowned Islamic scholar working for the establishment of a just and morally upright society through the implementation of
Shari'ah," he said.
No official reason has been given for Yakubu's detention, but Muslims believe it is linked to his views in favor of the implementation of
Shari'ah.
Northern Nigeria is mainly Muslim, but southern Nigeria is mainly Christian and has led criticism of the introduction of
Shari'ah in 11 northern states in the past 18 months.
Buhari's comments were interpreted by the southern-based papers as a call for the imposition of
Shari'ah all across the country, even in the mainly Christian south.
But, Buhari's supporters defended his statement as simply a call for the full implementation of
Shari'ah in areas where Muslims predominated.
This was again criticized by the Christian press in the South as a call for voting along religious lines, as well as an attack on the current president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is a Christian.
But, the Supreme Council for Shari'ah said that Muslims would no longer support Obasanjo, who came to power in May 1999, because of his poor handling of issues affecting them.
Under the Shari'ah law, which came into force in the state on August 2 last year, stealing, prostitution, alcoholism and fornication are banned.
Meanwhile, clashes have broken out between two villages, one Christian and the other Muslim, in northern Nigeria, residents said Monday.
Details of the fighting around the villages of Zwall and Kutaru in Bauchi State are extremely sketchy but the reports said many homes had been burned down and a number of people killed in fighting that erupted last Wednesday.
Bauchi State was the scene in June of serious fighting in several towns in which reliable medical sources said hundreds had died.
That fighting took place over arguments over the imposition of Sharia in the area.
Relations between the Muslim and Christian communities in the area remain tense.
A spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross told AFP the organization had heard independent reports of unrest in the area and was seeking confirmation.
"We are making efforts to contact our officials on the ground," said Red Cross spokesman Patrick Bawa.
The direct cause of the latest fighting was not known.
Ilyasu Aliyu, a resident of the town of Dass, close to the area where the fighting was taking place, told AFP in Kano that hundreds had been killed but his claim could not be confirmed.
Police in Bauchi, reached by telephone from Kano, declined all comment.
Zwall is a village of the mainly Muslim Hausa community while Kutaru is home to the mainly Christian Sayawa people.
Fighting was still going on Monday despite the presence of armed policemen in the area, Aliyu and other residents contacted by telephone said.
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