Nigeria
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal presidential republic
- CONSTITUTION
- a new constitution was adopted in 1999
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on English common law, Islamic law (in 12 northern states), and tribal norms
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral, Senate and House of Representatives
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Court (judges appointed by the Provisional Government Council); Federal Court of Appeal (judges appointed by the federal government on the recommendation of the Advisory Judicial Committee)
RELIGIONS
50% Muslims, 40% Christians, 10% local beliefs
From the country
- DECEMBER 27, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Sani Yakubu, also known as Sani Rodi, failed to appeal...
Sani Yakubu, also known as Sani Rodi, failed to appeal against the death sentence passed on him by the Katsina State Sharia court
- DECEMBER 26, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Some 3,000 people held a vigil at the Nigerian Embassy...
Some 3,000 people held a vigil at the Nigerian Embassy in Rome to call on the West African government spare the life of a woman due to be stoned to death under sharia law
- DECEMBER 21, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A shari'ah court in Sokoto State, northern Nigeria,...
A shari'ah court in Sokoto State, northern Nigeria, ordered the amputation of the right hands and left legs of two convicted armed robbers
- DECEMBER 18, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A legal practitioner and former Chairman of the Kaduna...
A legal practitioner and former Chairman of the Kaduna branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Daniel Enwelum, said that Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has no constitutional rights to stop the execution of the death sentence on Safiya Hussain,
- DECEMBER 17, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian Coalition of Women's Rights and Economic...
The Nigerian Coalition of Women's Rights and Economic Empowerment (CWREE) picked holes in the shari'ah court judgment that sentenced Safiya Hussaini, to death, saying that the death penalty runs counter to the constitution of all known international laws
- DECEMBER 16, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
An Islamic court told Safiya Hussaini, who was sentenced...
An Islamic court told Safiya Hussaini, who was sentenced to die after being found guilty of adultery, that her life will be spared if she can prove her daughter Adama, who is now almost a year old, was the result of rape
- DECEMBER 13, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
As 35-year-old Safiya Hussaini's death sentence by...
As 35-year-old Safiya Hussaini's death sentence by stoning continues to generate controversies across the globe, it appears the adultery case promises to test the restoration of Islamic law in 12 northern states
- DECEMBER 13, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos [Dr Anthony Olubunmi...
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos [Dr Anthony Olubunmi Okogie] offered to die for a mother of five sentenced to death by stoning by a Muslim sharia court in northwest Sokoto state which convicted her of sex outside marriage
- DECEMBER 12, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A leading member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's...
A leading member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party lobbied the government to intervene with a Nigerian Muslim state to spare the life of a woman due to be stoned to death under Sharia law
- DECEMBER 9, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Safiya Hussaini said of the death sentence hanging...
Safiya Hussaini said of the death sentence hanging over her: 'I felt sick when the judge passed down the sentence because of the injustice of it all
- DECEMBER 5, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto, a woman is...
In the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto, a woman is awaiting the outcome of an appeal against a conviction for adultery by an Islamic, or Sharia, court
- DECEMBER 5, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Safiya Hussaini Tudu, the Sokoto woman convicted of...
Safiya Hussaini Tudu, the Sokoto woman convicted of adultery by a Sharia court cried out for justice to be done to her