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Sharia
Declared In Southern Nigeria For First Time
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Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, right, and Vice President Atiku Abubakar
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LAGOS,
May 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Muslim clerics held a
ceremony in the southwestern Nigerian state of Oyo to introduce Sharia
(Islamic law) to the south for the first time, news agencies reported
Thursday.
Nigerian
Islamic leaders said Wednesday's ceremony only concerned Oyo State and
that the Islamic legal code would only apply to civil matters such as
divorce, inheritance and land disputes, reported Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
"The
ceremony was to encourage Muslims on their own to privately implement
Sharia," Lateef Adegbite, Secretary General of Nigeria's Supreme
Islamic Council, told AFP.
Secretary
General of Nigeria's Supreme Council for Sharia, Alhaj Nachu Baba
Ahmed, was among Muslim leaders from northern Nigeria who attended the
Ibadan ceremony, reported BBC’s online news service.
The
introduction, rather reintroduction, of Sharia over the past two years
in 12 Muslim-majority northern states in some cases sparked riots
between Muslims and Christians, and exacerbated tension between the
states and the federal government.
The
population of Oyo State is almost evenly divided between Muslims and
Christians.
Sharia
is to be overseen in Oyo by a panel of seven Islamic judges, according
to Nigerian press reports.
Some
2,000 Muslim youths gathered in Ibadan Tuesday to press for Sharia to
be implemented in Oyo, British daily, The Guardian reported, but there
were no reports of unrest.
A
spokesman for Oyo State said that Sharia would not be enforced by the
state government. He added that he was not expecting any trouble as a
result of the ceremony.
"Government
policy in Nigeria is very clear, we will not implement Sharia,"
said Kehinde Olaosebikan. "There will not be any trouble
here."
"In
our families there are Muslims and Christians together. When
Christians mark Christmas and Easter we celebrate together. When
Muslims mark their festivals, we celebrate together.
"The
line of demarcation is so thin, it can't be seen," he said.
Nigeria's
federal government - under severe international pressure - has
condemned the strict punishments handed down by Sharia courts.
But,
in response, authorities in the north are equally adamant that the
Sharia legal code is something all good Muslims should live their
lives by.
President
Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a Christian, stopped short of condemning
Islamic law outright, stressing that Nigeria is a complex
multi-religious country.
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