DATE=3/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NIGERIA / SHARIA (L-UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-259932
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=GUSAU, NIGERIA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: As sectarian violence continues to claim lives
in Nigeria, the governor of Zamfara state is calling
for a truce in the debate over Islamic Sharia law.
Governor Ahmed Sani said on Tuesday that he would put
his crusade to defend Sharia law on hold until the end
of the Muslim pilgrimage season, or Hajj, later this
month. Mr. Sani says he hopes this time-out will help
cool passions on both sides of the debate and prevent
further violence. V-O-A's John Pitman reports from
Zamfara state's capital, Gusau.
TEXT: Zamfara was the first state to implement the
full Sharia legal code. But since doing so in
January, the issue has sparked a series of bloody
sectarian clashes around the country, as well as a
political crisis over states rights and religious
freedom.
In a brief conversation with V-O-A in his office on
Tuesday, Zamfara state Governor Ahmed Sani said the
recent violence had moved him to take a step back from
the debate he had started.
Asking not to be recorded, Mr. Sani said in the
interest of peace, he would not make any more
statements regarding Sharia until the end of the Hajj.
The annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca
in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to end later this month.
When it does, Mr. Sani says he hopes to begin a formal
national discussion of the Sharia question with the
federal government and other state governors.
In the meantime, Mr. Sani says he hopes this cease-
fire in the war of words over Sharia will reduce the
level of tension that has built up around the debate
in recent weeks.
Since the end of February, up to a thousand Nigerians
have lost their lives in sectarian violence between
Muslims who support Sharia, and Christians who fear it
would impose unconstitutional restrictions on non-
Muslims. The latest flare-up coincided with Governor
Sani's announcement on Tuesday, when at least three
people were killed during a student demonstration in
Sokoto state.
/// REST OPT ///
Mr. Sani's unilateral truce should also help end a
political controversy over an apparent agreement to
suspend the Sharia penal code in states like Zamfara,
where it had already been implemented.
On February 29th, Nigeria's Vice President Atiku
Abubakar announced an agreement to suspend the Sharia
penal code following an emergency meeting of the
country's 36 state governors. According to Mr.
Abubakar, states that had implemented the full Sharia
code -- which includes punishments such as beheading,
amputations and flogging -- had agreed to revert to
what he called the "status quo" legal system that has
been in place in Nigeria since independence.
That system is based on a civil legal and penal code.
But it also allows Islamic family courts to pass
judgement on non-criminal cases where they have
traditionally had jurisdiction in Muslim societies.
However, just hours after the vice-president's
announcement, Governor Sani told V-O-A's Hausa
language service that he had not agreed to suspend
Sharia.
Mr. Sani's remarks opened a heated debate over exactly
what had been said in the governor's meeting. Some of
the governors stood behind the vice president and took
steps to suspend their Sharia penal codes. But other
states, like Kano, pressed forward with their plans to
implement Sharia, arguing that the federal government
could not tell the states how to run their internal
religious affairs. (SIGNED)
NEB/JP/JP
07-Mar-2000 16:13 PM EDT (07-Mar-2000 2113 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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