In a recent statement via his official X account, Aloy Ejimakor, the special counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has raised concerns about the secular nature of the Nigerian Constitution, questioning whether the country’s supreme law truly reflects the principles of a secular state.
”Is the Nigerian Constitution truly a secular constitution? I ask because there are 73 mentions of Sharia, 28 mentions of Islam and 10 mentions of Muslim but zero mention of Christian or christianity in the Constitution. Is this proper in a secular society? Let’s talk about it,” he wrote.
Ejimakor pointed to what he described as a significant number of references to Sharia and Islam in the Constitution and noted that there are multiple mentions of Islamic legal structures and Muslim-related terms.
At the same time, he claimed that there is no direct reference to Christianity or Christians in the document, according to him, this imbalance raises important constitutional and national questions.
Ejimakor asked whether such a pattern is consistent with the idea of secularism, in many countries, a secular constitution is understood to mean neutrality toward all religions and suggested that the Nigerian situation deserves open discussion and careful examination.
Nigeria is officially regarded as a secular state, section 10 of the Constitution states that the government of the federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as a state religion, however, the Constitution also provides for Sharia Courts of Appeal in states that require them, these courts handle personal law matters for Muslims, especially in northern states where Sharia legal systems operate alongside customary and civil courts.
The presence of Sharia provisions in the Constitution has long been a topic of debate, Ejimakor argued that the issue deserves deeper constitutional review……See More
Leave a Reply