LOS ANGELES TIMES        Wednesday, February 23, 2000

Nigerian States' Embrace of Islamic Law Triggers Alarm

By ANN M. SIMMONS, Times Staff Writer

     GUSAU, Nigeria--The Zuma Hotel used to be the trendiest spot in this dusty, wind-swept capital of Nigeria's northern Zamfara state. Patrons sipped beer and cocktails at the bar, danced to the latest music in the hotel's disco and socialized into the wee hours.

     That was until October, when the state outlawed drinking, partying and so-called lewd behavior as it began the imposition of Sharia, the Islamic penal code based on the Koran.

     In December, the Zuma was raided and abruptly shut down.
     "I wasn't given any notice that they would close me down," said hotel owner Vincent Umeadi. "But people became afraid and stopped coming here."
     Since then, cinemas and video parlors have been closed. Boys and girls have been divided into separate schools. Muslim women must cover themselves from head to toe, refrain from riding motorcycles--a popular form of transit--and travel in designated taxis that bear the image of a veiled female. Collection of the Islamic tithe, zakat, is being enforced. Alcohol, bars, discos, prostitution and gambling have all been banned.
     The initiative has caused alarm throughout a country already deeply divided along religious and ethnic lines. In neighboring Kaduna state, a proposal to introduce Sharia there led to rioting this week between Christians and Muslims in which witnesses said that at least 20 people died. Buildings were torched, and at least 100 rioters were arrested.

     Christians Are Told Code Is Not for Them
     In Zamfara, state authorities have assured Christians, who make up about 10% of Zamfara's 2 million people, that Sharia will apply only to Muslims. But for Christians, it seems impossible to impose separate standards for them and for Muslims in public life. And they fear that the urge to impose the Islamic code will be so strong that, whether or not the government declares it, they soon will be living under full Sharia.
     Zamfara state law now includes such Sharia punishments as chopping off a hand for theft, stoning adulterers and caning anyone who drinks alcohol in public. In the first such punishment carried out, a Muslim man was caned Feb. 10 for public alcohol consumption.
     One other Nigerian state has imposed Sharia, and Kaduna is among at least four that have expressed interest in it, presenting Nigeria's fledgling civilian administration with the challenge of preventing the country's hodgepodge of religions, languages and more than 200 ethnic groups from fragmenting. Muslims and Christians each make up about 45% of Nigeria's 108 million people.
     Many local politicians, scholars and foreign diplomats warn that the spread of Sharia could encourage ethnic Hausas and Fulanis and Muslims, who dominate in the north, to unite against the south's majority Yorubas in an effort to take back lost power.
     Northerners backed by the military ruled Nigeria for most of its 40 years since independence. Last May, Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner and a Christian, won a presidential election that heralded a return to civilian democracy.

     Religious Push Worries Critics
     Ethnic clashes and revolts have strained Nigeria's unity since Obasanjo took office nine months ago. At least 200 people have died since July in the country's oil-producing southern delta region, as minority groups there battle for a share of the black gold. Hausas and Yorubas have clashed several times.
     On a recent visit to the United States, Obasanjo called Zamfara's action unconstitutional, but he has since avoided the topic.
     By introducing Sharia, Zamfara and the other states interested in following suit appear to be trying to assert their independence, critics here say. They also worry that promotion of Islam in Nigeria's northern states might gradually nurture extremist, anti-Western sentiments.
     Zamfara's governor, Alhaji Ahmad Sani, acknowledged in an interview that he has sought guidance from Sudan and Saudi Arabia but said the fears are baseless. "Some of them fear because they don't know what Sharia is all about," he said.
     Zamfara began implementing Sharia law in the fall but formally introduced it Jan. 27, when Sani signed bills establishing Sharia courts and a Sharia penal code.
     The governor argues that Sharia law has been recognized for centuries throughout Nigeria's Muslim north, particularly in such civil matters as marriage and inheritance, and that by guaranteeing freedom of religion, the constitution allowed Zamfara to enforce Islamic law.
     Sani says his aim is to create a society of high morality, social order, peace and progress.
     "We Muslims believe that there is only one solution to human problems, and that is going back to divine rules and regulations," the governor said. "Once you have divine rules governing your life, there will be peace and stability."
     Christians complain that they already have been hurt by the governor's efforts to purify the state.
     Peter Dambo, chairman of the Zamfara chapter of the Christian Assn. of Nigeria, contends that Christians will not be able to participate in state administration.
     "Christians become inferior to Muslims," he said.
     "Sharia has affected us badly," said Umeadi, the Zuma's Christian proprietor, whose earnings from the hotel helped put his 10 children through school. "If it was a thing for Muslims only, then they would not have forced me to close down."
     Although he has lived in Gusau for 25 years, Umeadi says he is on the verge of packing up and moving.
     Sam Emeka Anosike, president of the Zamfara branch of the Nigerian Bar Assn., says Christians will have no protection from Sharia.
     "If it's the law of the land, whoever offends that law will be brought to book," he said. "Sharia is for everybody."
     It has been a great hit with many Muslims. On the day it was officially enacted, thousands of faithful staged joyous street marches.

     Women Freer Under Sharia, Governor Says
     Sani claims that crime has already decreased because of fear of harsh punishment. School enrollment figures for girls have soared because of same-sex education. And women are experiencing greater social freedom, the governor says, even though they are now banned from leadership or playing an equal role in society.
     Many Muslim women believe that they have been emancipated.
     For almost 20 years, Aisha Bello worked as a long-distance truck driver. In order to be accepted by men, she disguised herself as one of them. Now, draped in a flowing white cloak, Bello boasts of being Gusau's first female taxi driver. Her yellow and green cab, adorned with the image of a veiled woman, jostles for position on the streets.
     "I am now recognized as a woman," Bello said. "I have now become the real Aisha. I don't have to be undercover from anybody anymore."
     Women say they can sit and talk more comfortably in Bello's cab.
     "The issue of struggling with men does not arise," said Aisha Abdullahi Jao, a 35-year-old journalist. "I know I can stop that [female] taxi at any time. It's better for women."
     They have little choice. Most men refuse to transport them anyway.
     At a secondary school where Muslim girls were covered in white and Christians wore orange head wraps, Maryam Ahmed Rufai, the female principal, said attendance by girls has skyrocketed because parents feel better about sending their girls to a same-sex school.
     "The most disruptive and untidy students were the boys," said Rukayya Abubakar, 18, a Muslim. "They used to disturb us. Some of them were love-seekers. They would say, 'I love you, I love you.' "
     Some Christian parents object to the lack of choice in education, but at least one Christian classmate agreed with Abubakar about how disruptive the male students were.
     "They wouldn't allow us to hear what the teacher was saying," said Bridget Akagbe.
     Christians also complain that Christian women are being barred from riding on motorbikes and sometimes refused service by drivers of females-only taxis, who demand that they cover their heads.
     "It's not easy for Christians to get transport these days," said Father Gilbert Thesing, a Roman Catholic priest from Minnesota who has preached in Nigeria for more than three decades. Thesing has received complaints of mistreatment from members of his congregation and says that it has become increasingly difficult to get a license to build a church. In recent months, he says, several churches have been desecrated or burned down.
     "The Muslims have always felt that this is their land," Thesing said. "I think the governor would like nothing more than to have the state only for Hausa people."
     Sani says that's nonsense.
     "We are respectful of the existence of Christians and their right to worship their own religion," he said. "If I am unjust or unfair to a single Christian . . . God will punish me for that single act."
     That may be so, but Christians fear that the governor's resolve may not trickle down to the grass-roots level. Already, a women's enlightenment committee and a monitoring group, both made up of volunteers, have been established to lecture residents on the need for Islamic law.

     'Military Zone' Protects Drinkers
     Some Christians have found ways to defy the ban on drinking and partying. At a hangout run by the wives and relatives of Nigerian soldiers, a sign greets visitors and warns challengers: "Military Zone. Beware."
     Army men carrying rifles huddle with civilians around rickety tables and sip drinks, their faces barely visible in the hazy twilight. Beer and spirits flow freely. Those who frequent the place view it as a haven.
     "The government can't stop me from drinking here," Emmanuel Chiananti, 54, said as he sipped a bottle of Beck's lager. "If I feel like stopping for myself, then I will."

* * *

     Times Nairobi Bureau Chief Simmons recently was on assignment in Nigeria.