Posted on 05/02/2002 12:07:20 PM PDT by swarthyguy
LAGOS, May 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Muslim clerics held a ceremony in the southwestern Nigerian state of Oyo to introduce Sharia (Islamic law) to the south for the first time, news agencies reported Thursday.
Nigerian Islamic leaders said Wednesday's ceremony only concerned Oyo State and that the Islamic legal code would only apply to civil matters such as divorce, inheritance and land disputes, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The ceremony was to encourage Muslims on their own to privately implement Sharia," Lateef Adegbite, Secretary General of Nigeria's Supreme Islamic Council, told AFP.
Secretary General of Nigeria's Supreme Council for Sharia, Alhaj Nachu Baba Ahmed, was among Muslim leaders from northern Nigeria who attended the Ibadan ceremony, reported BBC’s online news service.
The introduction, rather reintroduction, of Sharia over the past two years in 12 Muslim-majority northern states in some cases sparked riots between Muslims and Christians, and exacerbated tension between the states and the federal government.
The population of Oyo State is almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians.
Sharia is to be overseen in Oyo by a panel of seven Islamic judges, according to Nigerian press reports.
Some 2,000 Muslim youths gathered in Ibadan Tuesday to press for Sharia to be implemented in Oyo, British daily, The Guardian reported, but there were no reports of unrest.
A spokesman for Oyo State said that Sharia would not be enforced by the state government. He added that he was not expecting any trouble as a result of the ceremony.
"Government policy in Nigeria is very clear, we will not implement Sharia," said Kehinde Olaosebikan. "There will not be any trouble here."
"In our families there are Muslims and Christians together. When Christians mark Christmas and Easter we celebrate together. When Muslims mark their festivals, we celebrate together.
"The line of demarcation is so thin, it can't be seen," he said.
Nigeria's federal government - under severe international pressure - has condemned the strict punishments handed down by Sharia courts.
But, in response, authorities in the north are equally adamant that the Sharia legal code is something all good Muslims should live their lives by.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a Christian, stopped short of condemning Islamic law outright, stressing that Nigeria is a complex multi-religious country.
I was in the gym last night and a Muslim woman came in. Working out in dress clothes and a head covering.
Howlin believes "Islam is a religion of peace" and that we who know differently are bigots.
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