LOS ANGELES TIMES Wednesday,
February 23, 2000
Nigerian States' Embrace of Islamic Law Triggers Alarm
GUSAU,
Nigeria
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.