A former
Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has given an insight into how his
handling of the sharia law introduced in some states of the north during his
administration averted a disaster for Nigeria.
The insight
is contained in a book titled “Making Africa Work”, co-authored by the former
president with three others.
The book,
unveiled in Victoria Island, Lagos, on August 2, was co-authored by Greg Mills,
Director of Brenthurst Foundation; Jeffrey Herbst, President of NEWSEUM and
Dickie Davis, a retired major general.
Mr. Obasanjo
was Nigeria’s democratically elected leader between 1999 and 2007.
But the
former president revealed that one of his biggest challenges as president was
the sharia controversy.
The Islamic
law was first introduced by a former Zamfara State governor, Sani Yerima, who
is now a senator.
“The second
big challenge under my presidential watch was the issue of Sharia law,” Mr.
Obasanjo wrote.
“As a
country shared almost 50:50 between Muslims and Christians, Sharia has always
been part of the legal and judicial system in the north, but only at the
customary, or so-called magisterial level. Even then, the Nigerian Constitution
has provision for establishing a Sharia Court of Appeal if the need ever
arises. Sharia was, therefore, never an issue because it dealt with personal
issues such as marriage, inheritance, and minor and civil issues, such as debt,
boundary disputes and land matters.
“Only very
occasionally did it deal with criminal issues which, when necessary, were
forwarded to the High Court for confirmation.
“The
initiator of the Sharia controversy, the then Zamfara State governor, Sani
Yerima, raised the issue, however, for self-serving and self-preservation
reasons, not for genuine or authentic religious conviction.”
Mr. Obasanjo
explained that when Mr. Yerima stood for the governorship of his state under
the banner of the then All Peoples’ Party, the man who later became the
National Security Adviser, NSA, General Aliyu Mohammed, sponsored a candidate
under the banner of the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
“The PDP
candidate lost the election but it would appear that the NSA, intending to find
fault against the governor, started surreptitiously to collect evidence of
misconduct and corruption against the governor.
“Meanwhile,
I made several attempts to reconcile them, but to no avail. I even took both of
them on an official visit to China, an opportunity to bring them together. When
it appeared that the NSA persisted, Governor Yerima decided to make himself
untouchable,” Mr. Obasanjo wrote.
He
continued: “He (Mr. Yerima) invited the Imams, Muslim leaders and priests in
his state, and informed them that he was turning Zamfara into a full sharia
state. He promulgated a law declaring Zamfara as a sharia state. And, true
enough, he became untouchable.
“Wanting not
to be seen as acting in isolation, he instigated imams in other Islamic states
in the north to agitate for a full sharia law declaration. In all, 12 states
out of the 19 in the north promulgated full sharia law,” Mr. Obasanjo
explained.
The former
president claimed that Muslims in the country were, however, all watching closely
to see what he would do, as a wrong statement or action could be seen as
incendiary, “because an ‘infidel’, an anti-Muslim president would be seen as
trampling on the holy religion of Islam”.
But at the
same time, Mr. Obasanjo argued further, Christian clergymen and leaders both
within and outside Nigeria were calling on him to stamp out the new phenomenon
of wholesale sharia in states where there was a Muslim majority but with
substantial contingents of Christians too. They pointed out that Nigerian is a
secular and multi-religious society, and not a Muslim state, he said.
“Throughout
this controversy, the only statement I made was to the effect that if the
sharia that the governor of Zamfara was touting was genuine, it would survive
and thrive. If not, it would fizzle out,” Mr. Obasanjo said.
Former governor of Zamfara, Ahmed Yerima
He alleged
further that to justify his action and to prove his ‘sharianess’ to people he
had recruited to his political sharia, Mr. Yerima cut off the hand of a thief –
a traditional Islamic punishment.
“After
that,” Mr. Obasanjo wrote, “the sharia fervour started to fizzle out.
“Muslims,
who had expected me to kick against sharia, thereby giving them ammunition to
cause mayhem, and Christians, who felt angry and disappointed that I did not
roll out military tanks to crush the proponents of sharia, both felt winners
and losers at the same time. But Nigeria was surely the unmistakable winner.
“Eventually,
Yerima weaned himself off the Muslim clergy and sharia crumbled in his state,”
he explained.
“A few
months later, Yerima visited me in my official residence and, greeting my young
female cousin, hugged her familiarly in my presence. I jokingly remarked to
Yerima that this action was not sharia-compliant. Yerima retorted, ‘Didn’t you
say sharia would fizzle out and has it not fizzled out?’
“At that
point, the matter had turned into a joke,” Mr. Obasanjo wrote.
The former
president explained further that if mishandled, the sharia debacle would have
become a serious disaster for Nigeria.
“I received
more letters on sharia affairs from within and outside Nigeria on the sharia
affair than on all other issues put together in my eight-year presidency,” he
concluded.
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