Sharia

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Coalition of Ulama and Islamic Organizations in Kano State has strongly rejected comments credited to an American Congressman who reportedly urged the Nigerian government to abolish Shariah laws and dismantle the Hisbah institution.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, and titled LEAVE OUR SHARIAH ALONE!, the coalition described the remarks as unwarranted and provocative. It accused the lawmaker of portraying himself as a “savior” of Nigerian Christians while calling for actions the group said undermine Nigeria’s sovereignty and peaceful coexistence.

According to the coalition, such calls amount to interference in Nigeria’s internal affairs and pose a threat to the fragile harmony between Muslims and Christians across the country. The group stated that residents of Kano understand and appreciate the benefits of Shariah, both for Muslims and for non-Muslims living in the state.

The scholars recalled past incidents when religious tensions in other parts of the world led to reprisals in Kano, during which Christians were attacked and lives were lost. They noted that such incidents no longer occur and attributed the improvement to the implementation of Shariah, which they said some outsiders now seek to discredit by inviting foreign intervention.

The coalition further stated that peace in Kano resulted from deliberate efforts by religious leaders and institutions. It cited the role of the Hisbah Corps in protecting churches during periods of tension and joint media programmes that brought Christian and Muslim clerics together to promote peaceful coexistence. The group added that similar efforts remain in place despite what it described as a renewed push of a Christian genocide narrative.

The ulama stressed that they would continue to safeguard lives and property in Kano without discrimination. They said this commitment covers Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

In a series of resolutions, the coalition declared that Muslims in Kano and across Nigeria would not abandon their constitutional and God-given rights to implement Shariah among the Muslim population. It maintained that the Hisbah would continue to operate as an institution of Shariah enforcement, regardless of formal government recognition, while affirming respect for democratic processes.

The group also urged the American government to respect Nigeria’s sovereignty and allow elected Nigerian leaders to manage domestic affairs. It called on the Federal and State Governments not to succumb to intimidation from any foreign country and to remain accountable to the citizens who elected them. The coalition pledged its support for efforts aimed at ending violence nationwide.

In addition, the scholars appealed to ulama and imams to observe alqunut, described as special prayers, seeking Allah’s intervention against enemies of Muslims and Nigeria. They said the prayers should hold daily for at least thirty days. The statement also urged Muslims to repent from wrongdoing, uphold Islamic teachings, and cooperate fully with the Hisbah and other Islamic institutions.

The coalition called on Nigerians to ignore threats from foreigners whom it said misunderstand Nigeria’s social and religious fabric. It encouraged citizens to continue living together peacefully and to resolve grievances through dialogue.

The statement concluded with a reaffirmation of faith in the sovereign authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It called on the government to instruct foreign powers to refrain from intimidation and to channel any assistance through duly constituted Nigerian authorities.

By Anas Abbas

The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria (SCSN) has appointed Sheikh Dr. Bashir Aliyu Umar as its new president following the passing of its former leader, Sheikh Abdul Rasheed Hadiyatullah, on Monday.

In an official statement issued by Malam Nafiu Baba Ahmed, the Secretary General of SCSN, the council expressed deep sorrow over the loss of Sheikh Hadiyatullah, emphasizing that his death is a significant loss not only to the council but also to the broader Muslim community in Nigeria and beyond.

The statement included prayers for Allah (SWT) to forgive Sheikh Hadiyatullah’s shortcomings and grant him a place in Jannatul Firdaus.

The announcement confirmed that Dr. Bashir’s appointment was made in accordance with the council’s constitution and established protocols.

“Sheikh Dr. Bashir Aliyu Umar OON has been unanimously endorsed as the new President of the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria,” the statement read.

The council expressed full confidence in Dr. Bashir’s leadership abilities, scholarly expertise, and steadfast dedication to the principles of Shari’ah and justice.

Dr. Bashir is a distinguished scholar in Islamic studies and finance, holding a Ph.D. in Hadith and Islamic Studies from the Islamic University of Madinah.

He has been actively involved in various committees concerning Shari’ah and Islamic banking both nationally and internationally, including serving on the Shari’ah Advisory Committee of Stanbic IBTC Bank and the Council of Experts on Islamic Banking at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

By Sabiu Abdullahi 

Ramlat Princess, a TikTok skit maker, has been remanded in a correctional centre by a Sharia Court in Kano State following her arrest by the Kano State Hisbah Board. 

Reports show that Ms. Ramlat was apprehended after a video clip surfaced online, where she purportedly proclaimed herself as a lesbian. 

Operatives of the Hisbah command arrested Ms. Ramlat on Thursday, prompted by the viral clip that sparked outrage among social media users, leading to calls for her arrest. 

Upon her arraignment at the Sharia Court, Ms. Ramlat, who reportedly pleaded guilty to charges of sharing explicit material on social media and inciting public outrage, was remanded in prison custody by Judge Sani Tanimu Hausawa.

The judge scheduled a summary judgement for Monday, February 19, 2024. 

Ms. Ramlat, originally from Ghana and residing in Taraba State, claimed she was visiting her elder sister in Kano when she was arrested about a month ago. 

In the controversial video, Ms. Ramlat declared her lesbian identity, stating that any man wishing to marry her must consent to her marrying a woman as well. 

“I am a full-fledged lesbian. Lesbianism is a beautiful act that I can’t do without,” she proclaimed in the video. 

During questioning by Hisbah officials, Ms. Ramlat confirmed her involvement in the video and reiterated her stance on marriage requirements. 

The arrest of Ms. Ramlat follows a similar incident involving another TikToker, Murja Kunya, who was also arrested by the Hisbah Board and remanded in prison. 

It’s important to note that same-sex relationships, including homosexuality and lesbianism, are illegal in Nigeria, with offenders facing a minimum of 14 years in jail if convicted. 

Ms. Ramlat’s case highlights the ongoing enforcement of laws against same-sex relationships in Nigeria and the swift actions taken by authorities in response to perceived violations.

By Abdullahi D. Hassan

Nigeria is a nation with Hydra lineament. For a long time, its narratives became a phenomenon in scholarship and startle those that are not abreast of Nigeria’s convoluted history, ethnic chauvinism, election rigging, religious intolerance, cankerworm corruption and heartless politicians with megalomaniac habits, driving pleasure in shady governance to submerge their citizens into gross poverty.

The sarcastic ‘Giant of Africa’ falls into a harrowing moment. Nearly all of the architecture of Nigeria is profoundly rotten, and its stench is sprinkled with endemic corruption, lack of patriotism, decay in moral values, transparent nepotism, and killing is crossbones across the regions. From the fanatic massacres, notably by Boko Haram and bandits.

After three decades of military tyrants and juntas, 1999 turned new dawn for Nigeria. The nation shifted from military dictatorship to civilian government. Policymakers, political pundits, and intelligentsia ascertain Nigeria’s prospect is on the trajectory of advancement. Albeit, the ultra development in multifaceted sectors. Within a decade of pseudo-civilian government, the country’s destiny is trapped in quicksand. Due to ingrained corruption by the three arms of government: executive, legislature and judiciary.

Nonetheless, the dominant ethnic groups, Hausa from the North, a Muslim enclave and fraction of Christian, Igbo from the South, a rife of Christian and Yoruba from the West, shared hybridity of Islam and Christianity. Those ethnic cleavages race for Tour de France in tribal wars, hegemonic politics, religious politics and domineering politics according to the dictum of language, faith and region. Amid the wanton rascality done by the “Zombie”, like Fela, the Afrobeat legend branded soldiers.

Thus, the failure of the so-called democratic government unbridled the ‘darkest History of Nigeria’. A typical Hausa accuses Igbo of the putsch and eliminating Northern leaders, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister and Sir Ahmadu Bello, a remarkable figure to Northerners. In 1966 a bloody coup was orchestrated by Igbo officers. Igbo talk of persecution and pogrom against their race in the North. Among the factors that emanate the unfortunate Nigerian-Biafran war spanned between July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970.

Furthermore, from the 1999 political dispensation to the current predicament, the country challenges twig onto gloom-ridden forms; politicians turned into confidence tricksters, parliament became the ‘House of Deception’, religious institutions metamorphosed into a commercial enterprise, journalists supplanted into puppets controlled by the connected few and higher learning academic reposition to woman’s assault domain. The former American ambassador, John Campbell, from 2004 to 2007, described politicians in his book Nigeria Dancing On The Brink “the civilian political class behaved as badly and in much the same way as its military predecessor”.

The most populous black nation on earth is about to be a Banana Republic. In the Northern part of the country, hardly a day passes, from sunrise to sunset, without disheartening news breaking in mainstream media. Boko Haram, ISWAP insurgents or bandits kidnap and maim innocent people. The terrorist marauders hold certain villages in the North-West. Similarly, hundreds of public schools are shut down for fear of abduction.

The most recurring questions preoccupying my faculty: Who will lead Nigeria to the Promised Land? When will Nigeria be exempt from being a nepotistic state to an excellent land, with leaders handling the nation based on the principles of democracy? What are the required features to alter the awful chronicles of Nigeria? Why are we divided in a discourse of religious sentiment, ethnic oblique and regional dominance rather than championing the furtherance of Nigeria?

Surreally, Nigeria is the most religious nation on earth! But in reality, it is the most irreligious in the world. The proliferation of mosques and churches crisscross the length and breadth of Nigeria. The anointed citizens were sponsored to Mecca and Jerusalem for pilgrimage from the government treasury. Despite public schools turning into rubble, pupils sat on ruined floors. Pregnant women wallowed in a dearth of medical personnel and drugs to survive early death in rural areas. Another outstanding hypocrisy of the Abrahamic faith’s leadership in Nigeria, the schools were built with the alms of followers. Such schools are barricades for the common man to enrol his children. Their subtle aim was to propagate adulterate gospel and split the masses based on emblems of Christianity and Islam.

As Chinua Achebe says in one of his pieces of literature, The Trouble with Nigeria, “There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leader to the rise to the responsibility, to challenge of personal example which is the hallmark of true leadership”. The book was written 38 years ago. The quote portrayed the decay of systematic dwindling in leadership style patterns. Although there was relative peace in the country at the time, we could travel thousands of miles from Lagos to Borno with confidence. In the absence of the highwaymen and any other obstruction.

Nevertheless, the dethroned Emir of Kano, erstwhile Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Khalifah Mahammed Sanusi II. He mentioned in his impressive Tedx speech entitled Overcoming The Fear of Vested Interest, “the world’s largest producers of crude oil that do not refine its own petroleum products”. In addition, the reverend Economist, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of Finance and Director General of World Trade Organization. As stated in her book Fighting Corruption is Dangerous. She recounts how billions of dollars were siphoned in a fraud called oil subsidy intervention. Mrs Iweala’s doggedness toward deceitful oil cartels and markets led to the kidnapping of her aged mother. Those two paradigm exegeses gave a sinister view of modern-day Nigeria from the spectrum of the clandestine elite.

The absurdities mentioned above triggered the Igbo to quest for a breakaway from Nigeria and rekindle the Republic of Biafra under the tutelage of Nnamdi Kanu, the ringleader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). The Yoruba seek Oduduwa nation, as some Northerners dream of an Islamic state to govern their affairs based on Shari’a. Those juxtapositions defined the nationhood of Nigeria as a conduit of dissolution.