The public discourse on Sharia Law adoption and courts’ establishment started on Friday when X user AbdulQowiyy Olalekan Imam-Onide shared that a Sharia Court would be launched in Oyo Town of Oyo State in January 2025.
This conversation was growing into a larger phenomenon of protest and uncertainty at the time of this article’s publication.
https://x.com/A_QowiyyBadmus/status/1869977459547938894
The post from Friday has sparked arguments on X, some of which, as FIJ found, were about the scope and jurisdiction of Sharia Law and courts in Nigeria.
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Those against the idea of Sharia Law adoption in the South-West have claimed that the law, if adopted, would permeate the social and political life of the South-West and would probably enforce its Islamic tenets on non-Muslims.
Some of these comments include the ones here, and here.
In this report, FIJ looks at the extent and scope of the Sharia Law as provided for in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) outside of whether it has been abided by in its practicality.
Granted that the 1999 Constitution is the supreme and most binding law on every Nigerian, Section 38 (1) confers the right and prerogative of freely choosing a religion on individuals:
(1) Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
Even though this part of the law is relatively known by many, there is still the consensus belief that the adoption of Sharia Law in a state would make it binding on every person living in that Nigerian state.
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Section 5 (f), (g) and (h) of the Constitution establishes the different levels of Sharia Court in Nigeria, while Section 277 defines the jurisdiction of a state’s Sharia Court of Appeal.
In subsection 1 of this section, the Sharia Court of Appeal can only proceed on Islamic personal laws. This means that it governs certain aspects of private and family life for Muslims and applies specifically to matters that affect personal relationships and obligations under the purview and precepts of Islam.
This jurisdiction is further explained in the subsections that follow:
(a) any question of Islamic personal Law regarding a marriage concluded in accordance with that Law, including a question relating to the validity or dissolution of such a marriage or a question that depends on such a marriage and relating to family relationship or the guardianship of an infant;
(b) where all the parties to the proceedings are Muslims, any question of Islamic personal Law regarding a marriage, including the validity or dissolution of that marriage, or regarding family relationship, a founding or the guarding of an infant;
(c) any question of Islamic personal Law regarding a wakf, gift, will or succession where the endower, donor, testator or deceased person is a Muslim;
(d) any question of Islamic personal Law regarding an infant, prodigal or person of unsound mind who is a Muslim or the maintenance or the guardianship of a Muslim who is physically or mentally infirm; or
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(e) where all the parties to the proceedings, being Muslims, have requested the court that hears the case in the first instance to determine that case in accordance with Islamic personal law, any other question.
This aspect of the law was specifically given to allow Muslims to adjudicate matters that do not affect the public and non-Muslims according to Islamic laws.
https://x.com/A_QowiyyBadmus/status/187148804894248989
Further enforcement of the Sharia Law beyond this jurisdiction would then be deemed unconstitutional.
Credit: FIJ
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