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
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian government pledged that no woman would...
The Nigerian government pledged that no woman would be sentenced to death by stoning under the country's laws
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Organisers of the Miss World beauty pageant asked the...
Organisers of the Miss World beauty pageant asked the Nigerian Government not to carry out the death sentence of Amina Lawal, a single mother condemned to stoning
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative...
Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) appealed the death sentence passed on Amina Lawal by a Katsina Sharia Court, for having a child out of wedlock
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Miss World organisers asked Nigeria for an assurance...
The Miss World organisers asked Nigeria for an assurance that a woman sentenced to death by stoning for having sex outside marriage will be spared
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities...
The Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities of the European Parliament today called for Miss World contestants to withdraw from the pageant in protest of the Sharia death sentence passed by host country Nigeria on a woman convicted of adultery
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The EU Parliament committee on women's rights voted...
The EU Parliament committee on women's rights voted unanimously in favor of the boycott of Miss World pageant to protest a death sentence given to a woman there for having sex outside of marriage
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian Foreign Minister Sule Lamido has added to...
Nigerian Foreign Minister Sule Lamido has added to the controversy over the Islamic legal code, Sharia, being practised in parts of the country by describing the law as "competent and right"
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Safiya Hussaini, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death...
Safiya Hussaini, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in Nigeria, and saved in part by worldwide mobilisation in her favour, has become a citizen of Rome
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Rome conferred honorary citizenship on a Nigerian woman...
Rome conferred honorary citizenship on a Nigerian woman who was sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court but acquitted on appeal after an international outcry
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Muslim leaders in northern Nigeria condemned the honorary...
Muslim leaders in northern Nigeria condemned the honorary citizenship conferred on Safiya Hussaini by the Rome city council, and accused Italian leaders of seeking to convert her to Christianity
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Rome city council said that Safiya was a "symbol...
The Rome city council said that Safiya was a "symbol of our commitment to fighting the inequality of women and defending human rights around the world
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Following an international outcry against harsh sentences...
Following an international outcry against harsh sentences passed by Sharia courts in Nigeria, particularly on the Amina Lawal and Safiya cases, a prominent Islamic group in the North, the Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI) declared that the implementation of the