The Sultan of Sokoto-led Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs has thrown its weight behind the push to establish Sharia courts in South-West states.

In a statement on Wednesday titled, “Live and Let Live!” signed by its Deputy National Legal Adviser, Haroun Muhammed, the NSCIA decried what it described as the “high spate of intolerance and disregard for the rights of Muslims, especially in the Southern part of the country.”

The council argued that contrary to the assertion of South-West governors, Sharia courts are backed by the Nigerian Constitution.

The intervention by the NSCIA comes on the back of festering controversies over the creation of Sharia courts or panels in South-West State.

On Tuesday, the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, issued a stern statement rejecting the formation of a Sharia Court in his state.

Abiodun said Sharia courts are not recognised in Ogun State’s legal framework and Nigeria’s constitution and warned the brains behind the Sharia court to halt the formation.

Abiodun’s statement came about a week after his counterpart in Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, kicked against the establishment of a Sharia panel in Ekiti.

Earlier in December last year, an announcement by the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria to inaugurate a Sharia court in the Oyo town of Oyo State generated controversy, leading to its indefinite suspension.

Addressing the issue, the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, said, “About the establishment of Sharia court in Oyo town, people may try, but for us, I swore to uphold our laws and the Constitution of Nigeria.”

However, the Sultan-led NSCIA, on Wednesday, called on governors and traditional rulers in the South-West to protect and preserve the constitutional rights of Muslims in their respective domains.

The NSCIA described as “unnecessary and unwarranted” the resistance to the establishment of Shariah panel in the South-West, noting that the Sharia Arbitration Panel was a voluntary platform designed solely for the resolution of civil and marital disputes among consenting Muslims.

Muhammed said, “The NSCIA strongly supports the establishment of Independent Shariah Arbitration Panel in Ekiti and Oyo States for the purpose so intended, especially where the Muslims in the states have been denied their constitutional right to a Shariah Court of Appeal in all the states of southwestern Nigeria.

“The council cannot find any legal justification for the unnecessary alarm and unwarranted resistance. All the states in the North have Shariah Courts and some, in addition, have Customary Courts.

“The most recent of this is the development emanating from Ekiti state where the effort of the Muslim community to set up an Independent Shariah (Arbitration) Panel was met with unwarranted resistance and objections from both political and traditional quarters.

“This is coming barely a few weeks after the announcement of the inauguration of a Shariah panel in Oyo State generated unnecessary anxiety thereby leading to its indefinite postponement.

“This and other cases, such as the denial of the rights of female students to wear the Hijab despite a Supreme Court judgment, are nothing but calculated attempts to prevent Muslims in the region from practising their faith.”

The council maintained that the setting up of the panel was legitimate, mentioning that the Arbitration and the Shariah Court of Appeal, just like the Customary Court of Appeal (which all of them have) are provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (see section 275), “confirming the legality of both initiatives. “

“The Independent Arbitration Panel, which is a voluntary platform designed solely for the resolution of civil and marital disputes among consenting Muslims was to fill the inexplicable vacuum created by the failure of the political elite in South-Western Nigeria to establish Shariah Courts, as allowed by the Nigerian Constitution, in South-Western States, despite the huge population of Muslims in the region,” the statement further read.

The NSCIA advised against acts of intolerance for Muslims in the South-West, such as the opposition to the inauguration of a Sharia panel in Oyo and Ekiti States, and the denial of the rights of female students to wear the Hijab despite a Supreme Court judgment.

“The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs under the

leadership of its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, is particularly disturbed about the high spate of intolerance and disregard for the rights of Muslims, especially in the southern part of the country.

“The council calls on the governors and traditional authorities in the southern part of the country, particularly the South-West, to ensure that the constitutional rights of Muslims in their respective domains are preserved and protected. While others are allowed to live, Muslims should also be let live,” the statement read.

‘Sharia Court not new in Ogun’

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Sharia Arbitration Committee in Ogun State, Mallam Yusuf Oloyede, has clarified that the panel was inaugurated in 2018 and had been sitting at the Egba Central Mosque, Kobiti, Abeokuta, to handle disputes among Muslims.

Oloyede made this disclosure in an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, following public reactions to a flier circulating on social media announcing the inauguration of the committee.

According to him, the flier created a false impression that the panel was newly established, whereas it had been operating for over six years.

Oloyede emphasised that the committee does not function as a court but serves as an arbitration panel for Muslims who voluntarily seek resolution of their disputes in line with Qur’anic and Hadith principles.

“What we have is not a court per se but an arbitration committee that has been in existence since 2018. It is for arbitration of issues for Muslims who want such issues heard and resolved according to the Quran and Hadith,” he stated.

He further explained that the panel comprises jurists drawn from different regions of the state, including Yewa, Ijebu, Egba, and Remo, and holds its sittings at Egba Central Mosque.

On whether the committee would discontinue its sessions or review its operations following the Ogun State Government’s recent warning, Oloyede said the matter would be deliberated upon internally.

“We wouldn’t know how the state government’s statement is applicable to us because we are not running a court but an arbitration committee,” he said.

He added that the panel would meet soon to discuss the latest developments and determine the next course of action.