Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, has canvassed a major constitutional amendment to accommodate what he described as the ‘peculiarities’ of Sharia law.
He spoke at Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, Kaduna state, during the 20th annual judges conference, on the theme “Documentation of Contracts in Islamic Law: Procedure, Sample Precedents and Practice.”
It was organised by the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies (CILS) of the university, in collaboration with National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja.
Noting that the inclusion of more sharia law components would cater for concerns of Muslims in the country, the CJN, who was represented by the grand khadi of Niger state, Muhammad Danjuma, said: “As we all know, there are sections of the constitution that allow the implementation of Shari’a personal law and apart from that, we cannot do more.”
According to him, more sections of the constitution that allow implementation of sharia law will enable lawyers in sharia law specialisation to do better.
He said: “As we all know, there are sections of the constitution that allow the implementation of Shari’a personal law and apart from that, we cannot do more,” he said.
“However, we have the number to amend the constitution to suit our own position as Muslims.”
He also called for the teaching of Sharia law in Arabic as against the English language which is being used, challenging academics to look into ensuring that the course is taught in Arabic.
His words: “The Shari’a law should be taught in Arabic not English. There is no university in Nigeria that runs Shari’a in Arabic; they all teach Shari’a in English. So, academicians let’s also look into this issue.”
