Pressure Nigerian govt to abolish Sharia law, Hisbah, Obadare urges US Congress

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

A Nigerian scholar, Dr. Ebenezer Obadare has urged lawmakers in the United States’ Congress to put pressure on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make Sharia law unconstitutional in the twelve northern states where they has been adopted since 2000.

He also said the US lawmakers should pressure the Nigerian government to disband Shariah police, popularly known as Hisbah, which, according to him, is being used to enforce Sharia law on all citizens regardless of their religious identity.

Obadare who is Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow said this during a joint House briefing in response to US President Donald Trump’s October directive and designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern on Tuesday.

Obadare warned that Sharia laws and Hisbah groups are fueling systematic anti-Christian persecution in Nigeria.

According to him, the primary drivers of violence – Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and radicalised Fulani militants – exploit Sharia frameworks and Hisbah officials to impose extremist ideology, enforce forced conversions, and operate with near-total impunity.

Obadare said, “The deadliest and most serious threat confronting the Nigerian state today is jihadist terror, perpetrated by the Islamist group Boko Haram. Boko Haram translates to ‘Western education is forbidden.’ Boko Haram’s barbarous and implacable campaign to overthrow the Nigerian state and establish an Islamic caliphate in its stead is the source of Nigeria’s present discontents. Every proposal to solve the Nigerian crisis that does not take seriously the need to radically degrade and ultimately eliminate Boko Haram as a fighting force is a non-starter.”

Obadare also recommended how to deal with the ongoing violence and killings across Nigeria, according to a statement by the US House Appropriations Committee.

He noted President Tinubu has made several moves, including ordering air strikes against Boko Haram targets, the recruitment of an additional 30,000 policemen, and, most recently, declaring a national security emergency in the country since President’s Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a country’s Country of Particular Concern.

He urged the US government to keep up the pressure on Nigeria.

“The policy goal should be two-fold: first, work with the Nigerian military to neutralise Boko Haram.

“Second, the United States should put pressure on President Tinubu to (1) make Sharia law unconstitutional in the twelve northern states where they has been adopted since 2000 and (2) disband the various Hisbah groups across northern states seeking to enforce and impose Islamic law on all citizens regardless of their religious identity.”

Ebenezer Obadare, the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, spoke to the root cause of the violence: unchecked jihadist terror groups, chief among them Boko Haram.

Obadare also laid out an effective strategy to combat the terror groups, including pressuring the Nigerian government with incentives.