Kalu and Enahoro—Yes to Sharia Find Them Below

1 Kalu and Enahoro—yes to sharia Find them below Prof. Lamin Sanneh in private discussion on June 19, 2000: Zamfara Govt received N500 million from abroad to implement shari’a. NaijaNews Nube Achebo July 14, 2000 Lagos Recalls Indigenes Lagos State yesterday swelled the ranks of states whose graduate indigenes have been directed to shun posting to the northern states implementing Sharia code. The recall of the prospective corps members announced by the Lagos House of Assembly during the first sitting of the second legislative session, came on the heels of similar decision by Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Ebonyi States. -National Concord -------------------- Only 800 Corpers Registered in Zamfara -NYSC Director This Day (Lagos) July 14, 2000 ------------- Why Atiku Spoke on Sharia This Day (Lagos) July 14, 2000 By Femi Akorede Lagos - There are indications that Vice President Atiku Abubakar's recent pronouncement in Sokoto that the Sharia legal code was the wish of the people may have been part of a plan by the leading lights of the Obasanjo administration to retake the high ground and moderate the Sharia controversy so far run by radical mullahs and Islamic extremists in the north. Abubakar had said in Sokoto last weekend that the governors who have so far launched the Sharia were implementing the wish of the people. Four 2 states, Sokoto, Niger, Zamfara and Kano have so far launched the Islamic legal system while Bauchi Jigawa and Katsina are preparing their own Sharia launches. Senior Presidency sources said last night that the Vice President's statement was the first in the strategy by leading lights of the Obasanjo administration, especially those of northern extraction, to seize the initiative in the Sharia controversy by making some concessions that would see the states currently implementing Sharia getting as close to the penal code as possible. Atiku's Sokoto statement was designed to influence the process of Sharia law before it goes to the extreme. The high ranking administration figures are said to be worried about the role of the Islamic Ulamas and Muslim radicals, some said to be egged-on by Libya in influencing the introduction of Sharia in the four states and concluded that the government must find ways of nipping the controversy in the bud before it consumes the nation. Their strategy is said to be predicated on giving Moslems what they want without endangering the life and livelihood of Christians, destabilising or playing into the hands of foreign interests like Libya and Iran. The group is said to have been alarmed by the sweeping spread of the Sharia fever in the north, especially the mammoth crowd that witnessed the launch of the Islamic legal code in Kano. It is also worried that if the continued influence of the mullahs and extremists in the Sharia controversy was not checked, it would blossom into a dangerous storm that would sweep away the northern elite including those in government who would end up with no influence in the law or its making and therefore out of the loop. According to sources, Atiku's group concluded that radicals have so far dictated the pace of the Sharia and have brought immense pressure on several governors that were initially reluctant to implement the Islamic law which is seen as incumbent on all Muslims. The major plank of the groups argument is that states seeking to implement the criminal aspects of the Sharia must first put in place a welfarist state as prescribed in the Holy Quran before embarking on such policies. Said the source: 'Before you cut somebody's hand, you must first put in place a society that makes it near impossible for somebody to steal.... Right now, we don't have that in place. So implementing criminal aspects of Sharia should not have arisen" 3 Since last year when the Zamafara State government launched the Sharia, the Islamic legal code has become highly controversial with opponents and supporters maintaining rigid stand on the issue. Last February the controversy over what appeared to be the imminent introduction of Sharia in Kaduna State snowballed into a bloody clash between Muslims and Christians which left hundreds of people dead and property worth millions of naira destroyed. The National Council of State thereafter resolved that states, which had so far implemented the Sharia, should return to the status quo ante. the governors however insisted that the council of states' resolution was merely advisory and was not binding on them. The Patriots, a pressure group comprising elder statesmen from the South and led by respected lawyer, Chief Rotimi Williams, (SAN) said early in the week that the Sharia was illegal and unconstitutional and called on the Federal Government to stop further allocation of proceeds from oil and VAT to Sharia states. ------------------------ Lagos - The campaign by the southern states to have graduates of Southern origin posted to states other than those practicing Sharia, appears to have taken its toll on the exercise as only 800 corpers registered at the close of registration by 12 midnight on Wednesday, in Zamfara State. Similarly, this year's camping exercise for corps members has been shifted to August 7. The Director of the NYSC in the state, Mr. Henry Ofoegbu who disclosed this during the swearing-in ceremony of the 1999/2000 first tier corps members deployed to Zamfara state yesterday in Tsafe town, Zamfara state, said the corpers had already adjusted their lives to suit their new environment. Ofoegbu assured the corps members that the atmosphere was still calm and conducive as it used to be before the introduction of Sharia, adding that "the youths do not have anything to fear''. He observed that the stories that the corps members had heard about the state were not true, adding that by the time they settled down, they would see things for themselves. The director advised them not to bother themselves about re deployment. Speaking at the ceremony, the governor, Alhaji Ahmed Sani, assured the corps members of their safety and economic well-being irrespective of their ethnic and religious background. He commended the youths for 4 dismissing and shunning the rumours and misinformation that trailed their posting to various parts of the country including Zamfara State. The governor, however, appe-aled to them to shun alcoholism, gambling, prostitution and corrupt practices as they are against the Sharia. Meanwhile, the headquarters of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) has announced an extension of the reporting date for corps members expected to participate in the first batch of the 2000/2001 service year from July 17 to Aug. 7. The announcement was made yesterday in Abuja at the end of a meeting between some members of the House of Representatives led by the Deputy Leader, Chief Mao Ohuabunwa and officials of the directorate. Addressing hundreds of prospective corps members at the NYSC headquarters after the meeting, Ohuabunwa said that call-up letters would be produced between yesterday and today for immediate distribution to the affected graduates through their respective universities. He said that money had also been made available to the NYSC for the distribution of letters to the universities. The Deputy Leader further said that the House would also send delegations to all NYSC orientation camps in the country to ensure that corpers who reported late were not victimised or denied registration. ----------------------------------------- Sharia and Democracy This Day (Lagos) July 14, 2000 By Wonuola Martins Lagos - Perhaps, on hindsight, it was only a matter of time. With the capitulation on June 21, of Kano State to the compelling forces of Sharia, the sharialisation of Northern Nigeria is a foregone conclusion. Even as the durbar state launched the controversial Islamic legal code, other states were setting in motion, machinery to do same. And, despite entreaties by the confounded Obasanjo presidency to the "recalcitrant" states to revert to the penal code of old, events on ground indicate that the presidency is fighting a lost cause. When the bearded governor of Zamfara State dragged Sharia into national 5 consciousness, little attention was paid to the explosiveness of the Islamic legal system. The move was interpreted as a gimmick conceived by disgruntled Northern elements unhappy with the focus or administration of the Obasanjo government. It was reasoned that Sharia was to be a bargaining chip which, in anticipated horse-trading, would strengthen the hand of its players. This line of thought was based on the premise of the introduction of Sharia, at a point when a southerner was president, rather than during the tenures of previous northern-run governments. The Muslim governors argued otherwise; that Sharia was borne out of the fervent desire of the people. Moreover, the crowds, fanfare and celebration that have graced the Sharia launches vindicate them. Today, it is not a question of the sinister or genuine motivation for the implementation of the legal system; that now lies irrelevant. Rather, the reality of the matter is that Sharia has transcended the alleged dubious gimmickry of frustrated Northern politicians to become a unifying call- a must have- among the faithful of the North. In the same manner of volatile issues that have transfixed Nigeria-- rulership of this great nation, the agitation for self- determination by minorities, and revenue distribution among others, Sharia has shoved in the face of Nigeria the realisation that there are more things that divide than unite us. That national issues would be viewed from the perspective of North Vs South; us against them. Since pre-independence, there has been an entrenched tradition of attaching suspicion to anything emanating from the other by either of the two blocs. In all probability, it remains inconceivable that southerners would judge this agitation for Sharia as genuine by a people they have grown to distrust.

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