THISDAYonline

Since the full implementation of the Sharia legal system began in some Northern states some two years ago there has been an outcry that the Islamic law is targeted at the illiterate and ignorant section of the populace. What with most of its victims being members of the low income class, mostly villagers or people with little or no formal education. The tide however is about to change with recent allegations levelled against Governor Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of Katsina and his deputy, Alhaji Ahmad Tukur Jikamshi by a Katsina businessman, Alhaji Musa Hassan.

Hassan in a petition he reportedly wrote to the Sharia Court in Katsina state alleging that the governor and his deputy had breached the Sharia legal system to which both men as foremost functionaries of the state gave their consent by signing it into law in Katsina state. Hassan dragged the governor and his deputy to thee Sharia court to explain why they were not in agreement. He said that it is a known fact that all muslims in the state are aware that the governor and his deputy were not exchanging greetings in the mosque neither were they speaking to each other contrary to the tenets of Islam. "The decision of the government has gone a long way in the implementation of Sharia of which there is the death penalty, amputation, imprisonment and diverse suits in the state. The masses are complaining that the court punishes only the poor due to their ignorance".

The complainant stated, adding that Governor Yar'Adua and his deputy breached the very law they signed and for which many suffered for and are awaiting punishment. The hearing for the case has been fixed for September 6, 2002.

The potential indictment of Governor Yar'Adua and his deputy will be the first high profile Sharia case since the inception of the legal system in Nigeria if indeed the case is prosecuted. Hassan in his petition draw the attention of the Sharia court to the fact that the quarrel between Governor Yar'Adua and his deputy breached the Quran and the Hadith.

The Katsina state government had recently come under an international condemnation when a Sharia court in the state condemned a 31 year old woman, Amina Lawal to death by stoning for having a child outside wedlock.

In the midst of the international outcry which included Human Rights organisations from Europe and the United States of America and participants at the forthcoming Miss World beauty pageant taking place in Nigeria in November 2002, the Katsina state government said it could not intervene because Amina's case was a religious one. "Amina's case is entirely a religious one, so nobody has the right to meddle in it," said Ibrahim Abdullahi, spokesman for Katsina governor, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

Before Alhaji Musa Hassan took his case against the Katsina state governor and his deputy to the Sharia courts the trend in the calibre of persons sentenced under these religious law was a motley collection of illiterate rural dwellers who were mostly women purportedly caught in adulterous relationships in which the men were let off.

The burgeoning list included; Amina Lawal, a 30 year-old Muslim woman, was sentenced on Friday 22 March 2002 to stoning to death by a Sharia court at Bakori in Katsina State. Amina allegedly confessed to having had a child while divorced. The man named as the father of her baby girl reportedly denied having sex with her and his confession was enough for the charges against him to be discontinued; In Jigawa state, a 54 year old man, Mallam Ado Baranda was convicted of raping a nine year old girl and sentenced to death by stoning by a Sharia court. Baranda who had the sentence passed on him in May was given the mandatory one month to appeal the sentence but refused to do so; In Niger state two lovers, Ahmadu Ibrahim and Fatimah Usman were convicted of committing adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. Fatimah's father who reported the couple said he would appeal against the court's decision; In October 2001, an Islamic court in Gwadabawa, Sokoto State, in northern Nigeria sentenced Ms. Saffiya Tungar-Tudu to death after finding her guilty of having pre-marital sex, a punishable offence under Sharia law. The man she allegedly had sex with was set free by the same court after concluding that it lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute him for the alleged adultery; In September 2000, an Islamic court in the northern state of Zamfara, sentenced Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, a teenage girl, to 180 lashes for pre-marital sex and bringing false charges against men with whom she allegedly had sex. Even though her appeal remained pending, the sentence was carried out; she was lashed one hundred times on January 19, 2001; Yunusa Rafin Chiyawa, a farmer from Bauchi State, on June 21, 2002 became the first man to be sentenced by a Sharia Court in Nigeria to stoning to death for adultery, as he reportedly confessed to have had sexual relations with a married woman in the village of Alkaleri in Bauchi state. Yunusa was denounced by a friend for allegedly taking his wife from their home to an unknown destination for 14 days and having sex with her. The Sharia Court of Ningi considered Yunusa's confession as sufficient evidence to sentence him to death by stoning. The woman was freed as she swore before the Sharia Court that the convict had put a spell on her; Yunusa Rafin, and therefore she is not subject to punishment; A 27-year-old man, Sani Yakubu was hanged for murder in January 2002 in the first execution since Islamic law - or Sharia - was introduced in 11 states in the North. Yakubu was convicted of killing a woman and her two young children during a robbery at their home in Katsina. His hanging at a prison in Kaduna was witnessed by relatives of the victims and government officials.

The aforementioned cases on indictments within the Sharia legal system which is just a mention of the numerous indictments clearly shows it has been a case of arraigning and prosecuting the commoner in the Nigerian society.

How realistic is the September 16 date? Respondents who spoke to THISDAY on condition of anonymity expressed doubts over any damaging indictment against the governor or his deputy coming out of the case. " Sharia is meant for the poor people. Since its inception have you heard of any government official or any entrepreneur being indicted by Sharia. It has been the poor". "It is a smoke screen by the governor of Katsina state to mellow the heat on himself after the worldwide attention that has been on his government over the Amina Lawal case, I sincerely do not believe that the businessman, Hassan can achieve anything with his suit. Infact I see it as a ruse to kind of balance the records that a prominent person has been brought before a Sharia court also".

The Musa Hassan case throws up a new dimension to the Sharia issue. If the Katsina state governor can be indicted under Sharia for being at loggerheads with his deputy then other governors of the Sharia states are equally liable. The much-vilified Governor Saminu Turaki and his deputy, Alhaji Ubali Shittu are known to be at loggerheads with each other over the latter's incessant travelling habits. Can Turaki be docked under Sharia?

The coming of the Sharia legal system in Nigeria has been shrouded in controversy and rancour.

While pundits have said that Sharia as far as Nigeria is concerned is a tool for political leverage, the state governors have stoutly risen to its defence. while inaugurating Sharia in Zamfara state, Governor Ahmed Sani said "The Islamic law called Sharia in Arabic governs the entire life of all Muslims and therefore the Muslims consider it to be the embodiment of the will of God. Nobody will be discriminated on the basis of his tribe or geo-political origin". Sani's profuse stance and assurances did not prevent ethno-religious riots precipitated by the Sharia debates in Kaduna in February 2000 which claimed the lives of hundreds of Nigerians including Major Ibrahim Abdullahi (rtd), a member of the House of Representatives.

In criticising the Sharia legal system, Third Republic Deputy Governor of Kaduna state, Mr James Bawa Magaji said "What the Northerners need is better standard of living not Sharia. Why can't we think about what to give our people to eat and for pupils to go to schools, and why do we lower our thinking to things I consider mundane". Magaji's comments which were made in 2000 and the fatal riots that preceded it did not prevent the Ahmed Markafi led administration in Kaduna from inaugurating and implementing Sharia in Kaduna state.

Protagonists of Sharia copiously cite Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution to justify their stance. Section 38(1) provides that "every person shall be entitled to freedom to change his religion or belief , and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance". By coercing people in a community to conform to Sharia the Sharia protagonists are already in violation of the Nigerian Constitution.

Muslims docked for criminal offences in non-Sharia states will find themselves in the woods because Islamic lawyers are not recognised as legal practitioners in Nigeria.