Magnus Eze, Enugu
Two leading Igbo organisations, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) have tackled the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed, over his call for the nation’s constitution to be amended to accommodate some of the peculiarities of Sharia Laws.
While Ohanaeze insisted that what Nigeria needed at the moment was restructuring and not issues that may heat up another religious argument, the ADF warned that the statement credited to the CJN was a huge threat to national unity and cohesion.
The CJN, while declaring open the 20th annual judges conference at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Faculty of Law’s Moot Court, recently, called for the amendment of the country’s constitution to accommodate some of the peculiarities of the Shari’a Laws.
Anambra State President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Demian Ogene-Okeke, in a statement, said the northern leadership should not impose Sharia Law on the people of Nigeria.
He called on other pan socio-cultural organisations not to allow the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari impose a law that does not conform to the existence of multiple religions in Nigeria.
According to him, Sharia Law is only practised among the Muslims and should not be forced on other religions in Nigeria for the sake of oneness.
“To be frank, I am highly disappointed with the CJN, for making such call in a democratic country with multiple religious affiliations,” he said.
Chairman, Bureau of Media and Publicity of the ADF, Chief Abia Onyike said that it was so unfortunate that someone like the CJN could descend so low as to start dabbling into the issue of state religion.
“Since the ascendency of President Muhammadu Buhari and his penchant for pursuing parochial and sectional agenda; many of the highly-placed public officers in Nigeria have also started pandering to such antics. It’s not just the Chief Justice of Nigeria; recently, when the president travelled to Saudi Arabia, I overheard his Special Assistant on Media, Garba Shehu saying Nigeria is an Islamic nation.
“It’s a serious problem we have in our hands, especially when you consider this against the allegation that they want to Islamise Nigeria. Of course, nothing can be further from the truth. It is extremely unfortunate and dangerous for national unity and cohesion.”