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 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian Sharia court freed a mother of five who...
A Nigerian Sharia court freed a mother of five who had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in a judgement by a lower Muslim court in October 2001 that sparked international outrage
- MARCH 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Governor Ahmed Sani of Zamfara State ruled out any...
Governor Ahmed Sani of Zamfara State ruled out any further dialogue on the implementation of the shari'ah legal system in the state
- MARCH 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation...
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is deeply concerned by the sentencing to death by stoning of 35 year-old Amina Lawal
- MARCH 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian officials said a second woman has been sentenced...
Nigerian officials said a second woman has been sentenced to death by stoning by a sharia court for adultery
- MARCH 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In response to the ruling reversing Safiya Hussaini...
In response to the ruling reversing Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu's death sentence the governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa, attacked the European Union and various women's rights groups for their criticism of the Islamic court
- MARCH 24, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International welcomed the Nigerian federal...
Amnesty International welcomed the Nigerian federal justice minister Godwin Agabi's move advising all 12 northern states that any court "which imposes discriminatory punishment is deliberately flouting the constitution
- MARCH 24, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Olubunmi...
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, appealed to the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto that has reintroduced strict Islamic law not to carry out the sentence of death by stoning that it has imposed on a 35-year-old woman for adultery
- 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