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. His declaration came as a response to the statement of the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Kanu Agabi, that punishment under the shari'ah legal code was discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional.
Governor Sani said shari'ah in Zamfara had come to stay, with or without him.
"We have been implementing shari'ah for the past two years and, if it was unconstitutional, the federal government would have taken steps to stop it."
Governor Sani noted that since shari'ah was launched in the state, he had received no fewer than 8,000 letters from different human rights and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) calling for the stoppage of its implementation.
"They have been writing, appealing that we should stop this programme, that the world is a global community, that we have gone beyond the age of amputation, flogging and so on, not knowing that amputation, flogging and capital punishment are in the Koran," he said.
The governor of Niger State, Abdulkadir Kure, asked the attorney-general of the federation to go to court to challenge the system, if he felt so strongly about the unconstitutionality of shari'ah.
On the fears expressed by the attorney-general on the discriminatory punishments meted out to convicts, Governor Kure said: "The concern expressed by you on the validity of some of our penal legislation in the light of the provisions of section 42 of our constitution has prompted us to look once more at the said provisions and our respective laws in order to place the fears thus expressed or identify any inconsistency. With respect, we are unable to see any. Those of our laws, especially the penal legislation relating to theft, adultery, homicide, defamation, intoxication, etc., which have been a subject of heated debates in recent times were informed by some basic principles expressed and entrenched in our constitution. These principles are contained in sections 4 (7), 5, 6, 38 and the preamble to our constitution."
Governor Kure noted that the opposition to the shari'ah legal system in the north of Nigeria was being instigated by the Western world.