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.
Justice Minister Kanu Agabi sent a letter to the governors of the states in question putting them on notice that sharia's provisions "violate Nigerian constitutional commitments to human rights and against discrimination on the basis of religion or sex".
Analysts said the minister's challenge was certain to heighten the long-simmering tensions that in the past spilled over into communal violence that has rent the ethnic, economic and religious patchwork of Nigerian society.
In the letter dated March 18 and addressed to the governors of the Sharia states, Agabi stressed that individuals and states must comply with the constitution, and that any court, which imposes discriminatory punishments, is deliberately flouting the constitution.
Section 42 (1) states that; a citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person - (a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject.
Agabi warned that the imposition of discriminating punishments, if continued unchecked, may end up in isolating the country as a whole or the affected states as the entire world has risen to register their concern.
He brought to the notice of the governors that his office had been inundated with letters from all over the world protesting the discriminatory punishments now imposed by some Sharia courts for certain offences.
Furthermore, he urged the chief executives of the states in question not to allow their zeal for justice and transparency to undermine the fundamental law of the nation, which is the constitution.
The minister's letter, which signals an important shift in government policy, made no reference to the case of Safiya Hussaini, a 35-year-old woman who has been sentenced to be stoned to death by an Islamic court in the northern state of Sokoto for adultery. Her appeal was adjourned to March 25.
Since Islamic law began to be adopted in northern Nigeria in the late 1990s, several convicted thieves have had their hands cut off and a 17-year-old girl who bore a child out of wedlock was also condemned to death, though the sentence was never carried out.