Nigeria Troubled By Sharia Controversy

Nigeria Troubled By Sharia Controversy
November 3, 1999 

Paul Eime, PANA Correspondent 

LAGOS, Nigeria (PANA) - The introduction of controversial Islamic Sharia law in Nigeria's Zamfara state last week has continued to elicit a sharp reaction from non-Muslims with legislators in one state in the south threatening to adopt Christianity as its own religion.

Law-makers in the Cross River state Monday passed a protest resolution to declare the area a Christian state to counter Zamfara.

The Cross River house of assembly majority leader, Basset Ewa, in moving the motion, warned that anarchy would take over unless the Sharia issue was resolved without delay.

The legislators claimed that national stability would be threatened if proceeds from southern states were to fund what they called "Islamic fundamentalism."

Christian leaders, including members of the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Bishops Conference of Nigeria, have denounced the Zamfara move as capable of sowing the seed of sectarian violence in the multi-religious country, which is secular by constitution.

Hundreds of Christians in Kaduna state took to the streets Monday in protest against the adoption of Sharia as a state religion in Zamfara.

To raise the state of the sensitive national debate, Nigerian President Olusegun Obansanjo was quoted by the country's media Tuesday as having said that the adoption of Sharia was unconstitutional.

Political observers said the potentially divisive Sharia issue posed the severest test yet for Nigeria's six-month democracy. 





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