The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has given its backing to the Chief
Justice of Nigeria (CJN’s), call for constitutional amendments to
accommodate some peculiarities of Shariah law which have long been
ignored.
The CJN made this statement while declaring open the 20th Annual
Judges Conference at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. The CJN
was represented by Justice Muhammad Danjuma, the Grand Kadi of Niger
State.
MURIC in a statement at the weekend by its Director, Prof. Ishaq
Akintola, said that the current constitution is a child of British
colonial Christianisation of the country which has failed to take into
consideration the multi-religious nature of the Nigerian nation.
“The CJN has our full backing on this. The British colonial government
bequeathed a legacy of Christianisation to the Nigerian nation.
Muslims were not comfortable with it but the British did not listen.
The British did not give a damn. The Northern Muslims resisted and the
British invaded the North. Muslim resistance was brutally broken by
the ruthless massacre of thousands of Muslim freedom fighters in
Hausaland, particularly in Burmi (1903), Satiru (1906) and Zinder
(1917). Even those who surrounded were not spared as they were mowed
down with machine guns. Thereafter, the British victors curtailed
Islamic landmarks.
“Islam had arrived in Karnem Borno in the year 1085 (818 years before
the invasion of the North by the British) during the reign of King
Humi Jilmi while Christianity was first preached in 1842 (757 years
after the advent of Islam) under the Agacia tree in Badagry. As far as
we are concerned, therefore, the British who brought Christianity to
Nigeria spread their religion by force after invading the North, after
intimidating the South West and after subduing the Muslims who had
been practicing their faith for more than 800 years. They used
excessive force against the Muslims and carried out barbaric and
extra-judicial killings.”
