Muslims Must Not Be Fooled By CJN's Shari'ah Talk

(CJN) Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad

Like has been observed, no government in the history of Nigeria has exploited the ethnic and religious sentiments of the Nigerian masses for personal gains as Muhammadu Buhari’s government has. 

Also, Nigerians have never been as disappointed in any government as they have been in the government of Muhammadu Buhari. Another manifestation of this exploitation can be seen in the recent comments made by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad.

At the 20^th Annual judges conference held at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (ABU) on 12th December, the representative of the CJN, Grand Khadi of Niger State, Justice Muhammad Danjuma, was quoted to have said among other things,  “As we all know, there are sections of the constitution that allow the implementation of Shari’ah personal law and apart from that, we cannot do more…However, we have the number to emend the constitution to suit our own position as Muslims…The Shari’ah law should be taught in Arabic not English. There is no university in Nigeria that runs Shari’ah in Arabic".

The Centre for Islamic Legal Studies (CILS) of ABU and the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja are said to be the organizers of the event.

The question should also be asked, ‘What immediate progress does the government want to achieve by the infusion of Shari’ah law into the Nigerian constitution?’ Is it tackling massive unemployment, insecurity, corruption, epileptic electricity supply, poor quality education or deplorable health care system?

Between 1999 and 2000, 12 states in Nigeria adopted the elements of the Shari’ah code in their constitutions. Through the years, much  of the grounds gained by the implementation of the code have been lost as in most of the states; the laws are violated without repercussions. Buhari's government has never made a statement in favour of Shari’ah law since he (Buhari) clinched power in 2015. 

Why is this coming now when a lot of the northern Muslim masses have acknowledged the futility of supporting the administration? Does the government want to get more states including the southern states to adopt the ‘Shari’ah’ code?

The statement, “we have the number to emend the constitution to suit our own position as Muslims”, gives away the intention which is to pitch the Muslim against non Muslims. In other words, divide and conquer; a great tool of the politicians.

This clamour cannot be coming from a government that has endorsed people with corruption cases hanging on their necks for political offices. An establishment that is not righteous enough to implement the basic principles of justice will not be righteous enough to implement the Laws of Allah.

This is another move by the government to make the northern masses oblivious of their impecunious state and consider support for Buhari as support for Islam which is of course far from the truth. Is this a move to condition the minds of northerners ahead of the rumoured third term bid of Muhammadu Buhari? Time will tell.

On 28th August 2019, the Buhari government laid out its case against the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) led by Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky.  

In a 56-paragraphed counter-affidavit deposed by Deputy Commissioner of police in charge of operation, FCT, Enyinnaya Adiogu, it was stated: “That from history and facts available, the Movement Called Islamic Movement of Nigeria founded by El-Zakzaky has its sole aim of creating an Islamic State”.

Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad’s prevarication on the issue leaps off the page at those who care to observe.

Another question goes begging, how is it that an establishment that declared a group ‘a terrorist group’ on the grounds that it is an advocate of Shari’ah law is now pushing for the infusion of Shari’ah law into the country’s constitution? There is no milder term for this than 'sanctimonious'.

The truth of the matter is that the administration has never seen the need for a Shari’ah compliant state; the comments can simply be described as sententious. The actions of the government which include total disregard for the rule of law and cronyism are totally incongruous with Shari’ah law.

The ignorant ones have continued to make the inane allegation, ‘Buhari wants to Islamize Nigeria’. People who make this comment do nothing but boost Buhari’s popularity in the Muslim north. There isn’t a single action the Buhari administration has performed to promote Islam in Nigeria, if you really understand what Islam is about.

I end this write-up with the statement of my fictional hero, Agent Fox Mulder, of The X-Files, “Fear, it is the oldest tool of power. If you are distracted by the fear of those around you, it keeps you from the actions of those above”.

God bless Nigeria