OWN CORRESPONDENT, Abuja | Friday 3.35pm
NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken out for the first time against legal implementation of Sharia, stating that punishments meted out under the Islamic law violates the constitution.
“For any law to be, it must be codified. Sharia is not codified. They just make references to the Koran and a number of other books, what sort of law is that?” Obasanjo said in Abuja.
“If you stone or cut off hands, then you will be violating the constitution of Nigeria, there are no two ways about it,” Obasanjo said. Strong Christian opposition to Muslim demands for adoption of the code has left more than 400 dead in two days of religious riots in Kaduna, the second largest city in mainly Islamic northern Nigeria.
Obasanjo stressed that, while the civil aspect of Sharia is part of the country’s 1999 constitution, it would be wrong for anybody to use the code regarding criminal matters.
he president said that only the Supreme Court can determine the legality or otherwise of Sharia as introduced in states of the federation, but was not clear on whether the Abuja government will take such action. However, on Wednesday the federal government urged Nigerians to initiate legal action on implementing Sharia, which has come into force in the northern Zamfara state and is set for application in two other states as of May.
Meanwhile Pope John Paul II, currently visiting Cairo, appealed for respect of “religious liberty” as he denounced the Christian-Muslim clashes.
The Pope arrived in Egypt on Thursday at the start of a tour of biblical lands in the year 2000, condemning violence in the name of religion and calling for religious tolerance. — AFP