The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) under the leadership of its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has expressed concern over the intolerance and disregard for the rights of Muslims, especially in the southern part of the country.

The council, on Wednesday, noted that the most recent of this is the development emanating from Ekiti State where the efforts of the Muslim community to set up an independent Shariah (arbitration) panel was met with unwarranted resistance and objections from both political and traditional quarters.

The controversy began after it was reported that a Shari’ah panel sat at the Central Mosque of Ado-Ekiti.

This led to the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe, his chiefs and other community leaders meeting with Muslim leaders, during which he ordered the panel’s dissolution, citing the interest of peaceful coexistence, law and order in the community.

Also, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dayo Apata (SAN), faulted the establishment of the panel. He said the legal structure in the state did not recognise a Sharia Court or Sharia Arbitration Panel and that the legal structure (i.e. Customary Court, Customary Court of Appeal and High Court) had been handling issues relating to Islamic, Christian and traditional marriages and inheritance without rancour or agitation.

However, the Wednesday statement signed by Imam Haroun Muhammad Eze, a lawyer and Deputy National Legal Adviser of the NSCIA noted that the Ekiti issue was coming barely a few weeks after the announcement on the inauguration of a Shariah panel in Oyo State generated unnecessary anxiety thereby leading to its indefinite postponement.

“The Independent Arbitration Panel, which is a voluntary platform designed solely for the resolution of civil and marital disputes among consenting Muslims, was to fill the inexplicable vacuum created by the failure of the political elite in South-Western Nigeria to establish Shariah Courts, as allowed by the Nigerian Constitution, in South-Western states, despite the huge population of Muslims in the region.

“This and other cases, such as the denial of the rights of female students to wear the Hijab despite a Supreme Court judgement, are nothing but calculated attempts to prevent Muslims in the region from practicing their faith,” Eze said.

He said the Arbitration and the Shariah Court of Appeal, just like the Customary Court of Appeal (which all of them have) are provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Section 275), confirming the legality of both initiatives.

He said, “The NSCIA strongly supports the establishment of Independent Shariah Arbitration Panels in Ekiti and Oyo states for the purpose so intended, especially where the Muslims in the states have been denied their constitutional right to a Shariah Court of Appeal in all the states of South-Western Nigeria.

“The council cannot find any legal justification for the unnecessary alarm and unwarranted resistance. All the states in the North have Shariah Courts and some, in addition, have Customary Courts.”

The council urged the governors and traditional authorities in the southern part of the country, particularly the South-East, to ensure that the constitutional rights of Muslims in their respective domains are preserved and protected.

“While others are allowed to live, Muslims should also be let live,” Eze said.

Meanwhile, Islamophobia and amnesia have been identified as factors responsible for the current bitter opposition to Sharia in Ekiti State.

This was disclosed by Professor Ishaq Akintola, the Founder and Executive Director of an Islamic human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).

In a statement released on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, Akintola said hatred for Islam and its adherents as well as collective amnesia were two major factors responsible for the kind of opposition to Sharia which we are witnessing in some parts of South-West Nigeria, particularly Ekiti State.

According to the statement, other factors include deliberate misinformation, ignorance and religious rat race.

The full statement reads: “In view of a thick cloud of tension which has enveloped Ekiti State in the past two weeks over the Shari’ah controversy, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) recently put together an ad hoc think-tank group which identified the factors responsible for the current bitter opposition to Shari’ah in Ekiti State as Islamophobia, collective amnesia, ignorance and religious rat race.