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
- MARCH 24, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Hajiya Aisha Ismail, Nigeria's minister of women's...
Hajiya Aisha Ismail, Nigeria's minister of women's affairs, expressed confidence that a woman convicted of adultery and condemned to be stoned to death by an Islamic court would be acquitted
- MARCH 22, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The governor of a northern Nigerian state which enforces...
The governor of a northern Nigerian state which enforces Sharia law has defended Islamic punishments after they were criticised by the federal government
- MARCH 22, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A motion of support to Safiya Hussaini was taken by...
A motion of support to Safiya Hussaini was taken by women parliamentarians present at the 107th Inter-Parliamentary Union in Rabat, Morocco
- MARCH 22, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amid mounting international pressure to spare the Nigerian...
Amid mounting international pressure to spare the Nigerian woman Safiya Hussaini, from death by stoning, Amnesty International presented 300,000 more signatures condemning her sentence to the Nigerian Embassy in Madrid
- MARCH 21, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian federal government ruled that strict Islamic...
The Nigerian federal government ruled that strict Islamic law, or Sharia, which has been adopted as the law of the land in 12 Muslim-majority northern states, is unconstitutional
- MARCH 21, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Godwin Agabi, the justice minister, declared that any...
Godwin Agabi, the justice minister, declared that any court "which imposes discriminatory punishment is deliberately flouting the constitution"
- MARCH 20, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian human rights activists and lawyers say they...
Nigerian human rights activists and lawyers say they are cautiously optimistic an Islamic appeals court will reverse a sentence of death by stoning passed on a Muslim mother convicted of adultery
- MARCH 18, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Human rights activists in Nigeria said they are confident...
Human rights activists in Nigeria said they are confident the sharia judges will not be able to ignore the international appeals for clemency for Safiya Hussaini, who was condemned to death for adultery by an Islamic court
- MARCH 18, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Lawyers familiar with the Islamic legal system in Sokoto...
Lawyers familiar with the Islamic legal system in Sokoto told AFP that there were three possible scenarios for the outcome of Safiya Hussaini's appeal at the Shari'a appellate court in Sokoto
- MARCH 18, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Safiya Hussaini's appeal against death by stoning for...
Safiya Hussaini's appeal against death by stoning for having a child out of wedlock was postponed to March 25 by the Sharia court in the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto
- MARCH 17, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister Sule Lamido in an...
Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister Sule Lamido in an audience with a European Union troika at Abuja rebutted the EU's criticism of the death penalty
- MARCH 17, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Safiya Hussaini, 35, condemned by an Islamic court...
Safiya Hussaini, 35, condemned by an Islamic court in Sokoto, Nigeria, to be stoned to death while buried up to her waist in sand, claims she was singled out because she is "a woman and poor", an argument that human rights groups have backed