Food for thought.

Sharia is observed in twelve of Nigeria’s thirty-six states.

Why should a section of country adopt a different law from others?

“The Nigerian constitution stipulates that we are Nigerians first and then Muslims (or Christians) second. However, some fanatic northern Nigerian elected officials are insisting that Muslims are Muslims first and Nigerians second and, therefore, are entitled to live by the sharia Islamic law.

The contradiction is these elected officials were elected through a secular constitution that is the supreme legal document of the land. Each official swore to uphold the constitution.

After being elected, some Muslim officials now want that constitution subordinate to sharia law. Proponents of sharia argue that the constitution guarantees freedom of religion while opponents argue that freedom of religion does not mean that Islam will be the state religion and take precedence over the constitution.

When a northern Nigerian state adopts Islam as the state religion, it in fact puts the state above the nation and its constitution. In other words, “freedom of religion” does not entitle some northern states to create an Islamic state within the secular state of Nigeria.

More specifically, the Nigerian constitution does not permit the adoption of Christianity or Islam as the state religion. ”

– PHILIP EMEAGWALI