2 February 2001
Lagos — Visiting Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of England, George Carey, has called for a "deeper relationship" between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, as he flagged off activities on his two-week trip in the capital city of Abuja.
"We've got to find what we share in common and pursue it in a way that can bring peace to the world," Carey said at a meeting with leaders of the Anglican Church in Nigeria Thursday.
Carey, accompanied by his wife Eileen, arrived in the country on Wednesday at the invitation of the head of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, Peter Akinola.
Speaking against the backdrop of incessant religious violence in the country, almost equally divided among adherents of both religions, Carey said "faithful" of both religions should live in peace.
"There should be ways to make all people live in peace. We have enormous contributions to make. We have to train our children to live in peace. There are several initiatives that we have to take to make us live in peace," he told the meeting.
He said he had "great respect" for Islam: "And that is why I have promised to establish strong relationship with Muslim leaders all over the world."
Relations between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria have been strained by the introduction of the Islamic law, the Sharia, in several States in the largely-Muslim north, starting with Zamfara which blazed the trail in January 2000.
As part of his itinerary, Carey is scheduled to visit Zamfara for talks with Governor Ahmed Sani, Sharia's chief proponent.
On arrival Wednesday, the Prelate said: "I am not a stranger to places with strong Muslim concentration. When I get there, I would be asking a a lot of questions.
"I would be asking for instance if Islam is a way of life, in what way is it possible to extend it to affect non-Muslims?" Carey added.
With the Sharia also dominating his meeting Thursday with Nigerian Chief Justice Muhammed Uwais, the Archbishop, warned against allowing the Islamic law to lead to deeper divisions among the citizenry.
Uwais told Carey that in spite of the introduction of the Sharia by some States in northern Nigeria, Christians resident there still had a choice of which court to adjudicate in their cases.
"Christians have a choice of court in areas where Sharia exists. They can choose the civil law if they prefer it and where they feel that the Sharia would give the expected justice, they can choose it," Uwais said.
He cited a case in Katsina State where a Christian got judgement from a Sharia court after a Muslim cheated him in a business deal.
In apparent response to questions from Carey, the Chief Justice explained that section 6 of the Nigerian Constitution empowers States to create laws and courts, but such courts should not be above the High Court and cannot be the final court of arbitration.
Nigeria, a plural-cultural, multi-ethnic populous nation of more than 110 million people is supposed to be secular by Constitution.
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