NIGERIA’S state-owned radio and television appears on Thursday to have launched a news blackout on the imposition of strict Islamic law in a northern state of the country more than 24 hours earlier. It remains unclear whether federal authorities ordered a blackout, but a worker on national television (NTA) in the capital Lagos said that the story and film footage on Wednesday’s Sharia ceremony in Zamfara State were dropped at the last minute. Radio Nigeria, an organ of the federal government, has also so far played dumb over the event. The Sharia issue has triggered a flurry of criticism in Nigeria, back under civilian rule since May. The 1999 constitution stipulates that Nigeria is a secular state and prohibits the adoption of any religion at state or federal level.