Shariah panels: NSCIA urges South West govs, monarchs to protect rights of Muslims

THE Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) under the leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has called on governors and traditional authorities in the southern part of the country, particularly the South West, to ensure that the constitutional rights of Muslims in their respective domains are preserved and protected.

The NSCIA, the apex Islamic authority in the country, stated this amidst the alarm and resistance trailing efforts of the Muslim communities in Oyo and Ekiti states to establish independent Shariah arbitration panels.

In a statement signed by its Deputy National Legal Adviser, Imam Haroun Muhammad Eze, the body said it could not find any legal justification for the resistance and therefore threw its weight behind the move to establish the Shariah panels in the two states.

Describing the objections from both political and traditional quarters as unwarranted, the NSCIA explained that the arbitration panels are a voluntary platform designed solely for the resolution of civil and marital disputes among consenting Muslims.

According to the council, the panes are also to fill “the inexplicable vacuum created by the failure of the political elite in South-Western Nigeria to establish Shariah courts, as allowed by the Nigerian constitution, in South-Western states, despite the huge population of Muslims in the region.”

The NSCIA expressed regret that the development from Ekiti State came barely a few weeks after the announcement on the inauguration of a Shariah panel in Oyo State generated “unnecessary anxiety” that led to its indefinite postponement.

It said, “This and other cases, such as the denial of the rights of female students to wear the hijab despite a Supreme Court judgement, are nothing but calculated attempts to prevent Muslims in the region from practicing their faith.

“Meanwhile, Arbitration and the Shariah Court of Appeal, just like the Customary Court of Appeal (which all of the South West states have) are provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (see section 275), confirming the legality of both initiatives.”

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“The NSCIA strongly supports the establishment of Independent Shariah Arbitration Panel in Ekiti and Oyo states for the purpose so intended, especially where the Muslims in the states have been denied their constitutional right to a Shariah Court of Appeal in all the states of the South-Western Nigeria. The Council cannot find any legal justification for the unnecessary alarm and unwarranted resistance. All the states in the North have Shariah Courts and some, in addition, have Customary Courts.

“The Council calls on the governors and traditional authorities in the southern part of the country, particularly the South-West, to ensure that the constitutional rights of Muslims in their respective domains are preserved and protected. While others are allowed to live, Muslims should also be let live.”