Nigerians Welcome Governors' Decision To Suspend Sharia April 4, 2000 LAGOS, Nigeria (PANA) - The decision by governors of Nigeria's Muslim-dominated 19 northern states to suspend the implementation of the Islamic Sharia legal system has been generally well received in the country, with many expressing the hope that this will put an end to the bloody clashes unleashed by its introduction in parts of the country. In a communique at the end of their meeting Monday in Kaduna, scene of February's Sharia violence that killed some 400 people, the governors decided to set up a special committee of Muslims and Christians to discuss the issue further. "Realising the differences between 1979 and 1999 constitutions of the federal republic of Nigeria with regard to Sharia law," they said "we have resolved to constitute a committee made up of Muslim and Christian leaders to dialogue on those aspects of Sharia not included in the penal code and arrive at consensus for adoption." While reaffirming their support for the federal government, they also sympathised with families of those who lost their lives during the crises in Kaduna and other parts of the country. The governors, however, rejected the call for confederation by leaders of eastern Nigeria, an off-shoot of the Sharia problem. The decision by the governors, seen as a return to the state of affairs before the recent introduction of the controversial penal code by some states n the north and the attendant violence is considered capable of soothing the frayed nerves in restive nation. "It underscores the rightness of the decision taken in the 1960s about compromise on religious issues," says human rights lawyer Clement Nwankwo. Nwankwo, the executive director of human a rights group, Constitutional Rights Projects, told PANA Tuesday that "any decision to be reached by the committee set up by the governors cannot fail to take cognisance of the facts that you cannot have a religious law governing a multi-religious state." Sule Adebayo, a civil servant agrees, saying "nobody gains from a religious war." Speaking in the same vein, journalist Buki Ponle believes the northern governors have "acted reasonably having been boxed into corner." He hoped all sides to the sectarian dispute will now call a truce. On legal action by another human rights group, which has challenged the Zamfara state the first to introduce Sharia, Nwankwo expressed the hope that the decision by the northern governors would go a long way in resolving the sensitive issue. That case is still pending in the Zamfara high court. Nigeria's council of state, grouping governors of the 36-state federation as well as the country's past and present leaders, had in February endorsed the suspension of Sharia following the Kaduna violence. But authorities in Zamfara went ahead to implement the penal code with state courts handing down sentences including the public canning of an 80-year-old man and amputation of the right hand of another man, both of whom were separately convicted of stealing. The amputation has evoked public outrage with President Olusegun Obasanjo condemning it as violation of human rights although he said his government would remain neutral and that it was up to an aggrieved individual to go to court on the issue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2000 Panafrican News Agency. All Rights Reserved. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------