Nigeria 
Situation of religious freedom deteriorates in Nigeria

afrol.com, 18 September 2000 - The status of respect for religious freedom deteriorated during the year due to the implementation of an expanded version of Shari' a law in several northern states, which challenged constitutional protections for religious freedom and sparked interreligious violence, the US government this month stated in its annual report on religious freedom. Religious clashes are now regular news from Nigeria.

In 1999 and 2000, the Nigerian state has experienced a profound crisis based on the religious differences in the country. The introduction of Islamic (Shari' a) customary law and courts in several northern states provoked the substantial Christian minority in these states. 

Their protests were answered with violent upheavals, killing over 1000 persons in February. These were followed by upheavals in predominantly Christian southern states, killing another 500. The conflict is based on a profound distrust between Muslim Northerners and Christian Southerners, making an increasing part of the Nigerian population thinking that the breakup of the 36-state federation, comprising three big ethnic blocs and over 250 smaller nationalities, was a price they were willing to pay to stop the confrontations. Several regional leaders have been calling for a rethink of the basis of the country's unity.

In September 2000, the clashes between Christians and Muslims still go on. At least 10 people died in the first week of September in clashes between Muslims and Christians in the northern Nigerian state of Gombe, the BBC reported. Tension in Gombe has been growing for weeks over proposals to introduce Shari' a. On 10 September, the Abubakar Tafewa Balewa University in Bauchi, northern Nigeria, was closed indefinitely following clashes between Muslim and Christian students, media organisations reported. AFP said an office on the university compound was burnt and about 15 vehicles reported vandalised. 

The Nigerian Constitution prohibits state and local governments from adopting an official religion; however, it also provides that states may elect to use Shari' a law and courts. Government discrimination based on religion and societal tension between different religious groups continued. Nigerian law prohibits religious discrimination. Nonetheless, reports were common that government officials discriminated against persons practicing a religion different from their own, notably in hiring or awarding contracts. 

About half of the country's population practice Islam, about 40 percent practice Christianity, and about 10 percent practice exclusively traditional indigenous religions or no religion; many persons practice both elements of Christianity or Islam and elements of a traditional indigenous religion. 

On October 8, 1999, the governor of Zamfara state, Ahmed Sani, signed a bill establishing Shari' a courts and courts of appeal in Zamfara state, and another bill that constitutes the Shari' a penal code; the bills took effect on January 27, 2000. Zamfara's law adopted traditional Shari' a in its entirety, with the exception that apostasy was not criminalized. Other Muslim communities, particularly from the states of Kano, Niger, Sokoto, Jigawa, Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, and Katsina states, began to echo the call for Shari' a in their states. At present, four northern states had adopted variations of Shari' a law; Zamfara, Kano, Niger, and Sokoto. 

Although Christians were exempt from the law, the societal ramifications of expanded Shari' a law infringed upon the rights of non-Muslims in the north to live in a society governed by secular laws. Plans to implement expanded Shari' a laws in Kaduna state, which has a large Christian population, sparked violence in February 2000 that lasted for several days and resulted in an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 deaths. 

Reprisal attacks followed in the predominantly Christian southeastern towns of Aba, Owerri, and Onitsha, resulting in an additional 500 deaths. The violence, although initiated in a religious context, had strong ethnic undertones and was the worst the country had experienced since the civil war of 1967-1970. The violence led several state governments to restrict public preaching, religious processions, and meetings. The national turmoil surrounding the Shari' a issue abated by mid-2000, but the issue still is not resolved completely.

Since independence, the jurisdiction of Shari' a courts has been limited to family or personal law cases involving Muslims, or to civil disputes between Muslims who consent to the courts' jurisdiction. However, the Constitution states that a Shari' a court of appeal may exercise "such other jurisdiction as may be conferred upon it by the law of the State." Some states have interpreted this language as granting them the right to expand the jurisdiction of existing Shari' a courts to include criminal matters. 

Several Christians have alleged that, with the adoption of an expanded Shari' a law in several states and the continued use of state funds to fund the construction of mosques, teaching of Alkalis (Muslim judges), and pilgrimages to Mecca (Hajj), Islam has been adopted as the de facto state religion of several northern states. However, state funds also are used to fund Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem. In general states with a clear Christian or Muslim majority explicitly favor the majority faith. 

According to the governor of Zamfara, Shari' a is supposed to apply to Muslims only; however, schoolchildren continue to be segregated by gender in Zamfara schools and preparations were underway for separate transportation and health facilities for men and women. The governor of Zamfara also disbursed public funds to refurbish mosques and pronounced that only persons with beards would win government contracts. In May 2000, Kebbi state also began to separate schoolchildren by gender. 

Following the violence related to the expansion of Shari' a laws, several committees were established, both by government officials and by religious leaders, to work for peace and a better understanding between Christians and Muslims, and to obtain a solution to the Shari' a debate. However, the efforts of these various committees so far have not result in a permanent solution as to how, or if, Shari' a will be permitted to expand into the criminal code of states that so desire it.

President Obasanjo's leadership has been heavily criticized for being less that sure-footed in the crisis. "A lot of Nigerians are disappointed. If they support him it's because they don't want the military back in office. But he's too old and surrounded by recycled ministers. He comes from the past and doesn't have the energy" to confront the crisis, Nigerians told IRIN earlier this year. 

Sources: Based on US Government and IRIN

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