POLITICS OF SHARIA IN NIGERIA’S “FAR NORTH” AND THE FALLACY OF “SECULARITY PRINCIPLE OF STATE”

Abstract

Sharia had been an age-long practice in Nigeria’s twelve states of the “Far North”. But since the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999, the controversy surrounding sharia practice became violent because of the introduction of Sharia law by the twelve state governments. What became “the politics of Sharia” was considered as a breach of the secularity principle of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended). The non-Muslims’ opposition against the introduction of sharia law was premised on Section 10 of the constitution. However, the pro-sharia Muslims considered Sharia as the ideal of political governance pointing to Section 38, sub-sections 1, 2 and 3. The use of sharia practice to ventilate political interests could best be explained by religious mobilization theory, using historical and descriptive method. Despite the aversion for “secularity principle of state” by the Nigeria’s Far Northern political elite, the study recommends this principle as ideal formula for conflict regulation in deeply divided societies like Nigeria.

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