12 June 2001
For the second time in two months, governors of some of the Northern states, where the Sharia legal system is being operated, met yesterday in Abuja with officials of the Federal Government to iron out major areas of difference.
The two parties had earlier met with Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in May, during which the Federal Government expressed its reservations over the manner in which the penal code was being implemented in the affected states.
Yesterday's meeting, attended by the Governors of Zamfara, Kebbi, Kano and Katsina states among others, was held with the National Security Adviser, Lt.-Gen. Aliyu Mohammed (rtd), as a follow-up to the last meeting.
The meeting was expected to fashion out a "middle of the road course" for both parties to ensure a "peaceful" implementation of the Islamic legal code, without posing any threat to non-muslims.
The approach, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported, was to allay the fears of non-muslims in the Sharia states, to be able to achieve cordial and harmonious co-existence between muslims and non-muslims throughout the country.
NAN also reported that one major area of disagreement in respect of the implementation of Sharia, which came to the fore at the last meeting was the use of some youth groups to enforce compliance in the affected states.
The implementation of the Sharia code first gained prominence in the country with its introduction in Zamfara State in 1999.
It was learnt that government had also at the last meeting, expressed its reservation over the use of religious youths, whom, it said, were allowed to take the laws into their hands, a situation it believed, could lead to a serious breakdown of law and order.
On their part, the governors were said to have expressed their unhappiness over the attitude of the police in their respective states accusing them of preferring to take cases of Sharia code violations to the conventional magistrates' courts, instead of taking the "suspects" before the newly established Sharia courts.
NAN reported that recently, the Deputy Governor of Kano State, Dr. Umar Ganduje, allegedly led a team of Mallams, including young Sharia enforcers, to supervise the destruction of alcohol and burning of some hotels in some parts of Kano city.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2001 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
