Can Anyone Islamize Or Christianize Nigeria?

By Chuba Okadigbo,
Former President of The Senate.
Federal Republic of Nigeria

culled from This Day March 21, 2003

An attempt is being made to frame General Muhammadu
Buhari in the image of a 'religious bigot'. His political adversaries allege that he said that Muslims should not vote for non-moslems and that Buhari will use presidential
power to islamize Nigeria. What Gen. Buhari said or did not
say has been addressed elsewhere. The yet to be answered question is: Can anyone (not just Buhari) Islamize or Christianize Nigeria, by the fiat of presidential power ? The categorical answer is NO and proof thereof are hereunder
provided. '

Section 1 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 states that the
Constitution is supreme and that its provisions have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federation. Subsection 2 thereof

states that 'the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed nor shall any person or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part
thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this
Constitution.'

To Islamize or Christianize our Federal Republic, there must
be some amendment of the Constitution. Let it be known by all that in the first place, Section 10 proclaims that 'the Government of the Federation or of any State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion.' To alter this
provision, a person or group of persons must pass through
a gamut of very dissuading, grilling and tedious processes and secure the cooperation of persons from differing religious and/or animist persuasions.

In this country, as I see it, it should be easier for the head of camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for any person or group of persons to get the support of Christians and animists to Islamize Nigeria or to secure the
cooperation of Moslem sand animists to Christianize
Nigeria.

For any amendment of the Constitution, one must comply
with the rigorous provisions of
_ Section 9. An Act for any alteration must NOT pass through
either Houses of the National Assembly (the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives) unless the proposal is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of ALL members of either House, and is also approved
by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of NOT less than
two-thirds of ALL the States in the Federation. The reality on the ground is that neither the Christians nor the Moslems of Nigeria have the singular capacity to evolve the Christianization or Islamization of our Republic.

To make Christianity or Islamism the 'State Religion' of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a task more herculian than climbing Mount Everest and near impossible as having an angels and saints to preside over our National and State
Assemblies.

It is true that some States in Nigeria, beginning with
Zamfara, have adopted Sharia as a legal instrument in that particular State, by resolution of a State Assembly and the assent of the State Governor. The Constitution allows
the application of Sharia on matters pertaining to Islamic
Personal Law, with particular attention to marriage and inheritance, in any State that so desires, provided that they apply ONLY to Moslems and others who freely elect to be bound by Sharia Law applications. Notably, a State Assembly and State Governor can also root for Canon or Customary law, though to the extent of compliance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Here, I must pause to issue a caveat. Unlike the PDP
controlled States of Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Nassarawa, and Plateau, there has been no religious riot in Zamfara. Remarkably, Nigerians of all religious persuasion that are
resident in Zamfara live in peace and harmony. Curiously
but certainly, there have been instances where and when Christians took Moslems to Sharia courts for settlements. To say the least, this is instructive.

This can neither be compared or contrasted with the multiple occurrences of riots and crises that have taken place in Kaduna and Kano States in the name of
Sharia,
Equally but painfully instructive is the truth that all sorts of
riots and violent civic disturbances (wild border/boundary and ethnic clashes) have taken place in such PDP controlled States as Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Nassarawa, Plateau, and Rivers States, and the ADcontrolled States of Lagos, Ogun and Ondo, whereas there has been none in the ANPP controlled States of Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.

Furthermore, it should be pointed out that Section 5,
especially subsection 8 thereof, stipulates that the legislative powers of the National and State Assemblies are subject to the jurisdictions of the courts of law. The courts hold the power to decide when any Act of the Legislature or
deed of the Executive contravenes any section of the Constitution and the courts are empowered to specify any action necessary for remedy or reprimand. For
instance, should any law (Sharia, Customary or Canon) run
afoul the Constitution or the Fundamental Rights of Citizens, the Courts can intervene decisively.

The extent and limits of such applications in the affected
States are yet to be determined by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. I recall that as President of the Senate, I advised President Olusegun Obasanjo on three separate occasions to order the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the
Federation (at that time Chief Bola Ige) to go directly to the Supreme Court to secure the proper definition and context of Sharia Law applications in their relation to Common Law in the Federation.

Due to his reluctance or timidity or reluctance to act on
thereon, we caused a Resolution that backed this advice to be passed in the Senate in Y2000. I am sad to note that the failure of Gen. Obasanjo to act on this Senate Resolution accounts for some of the confusion, crises, conflicts and even riots that have disturbed and threatened peace, harmony, stability and the security of life and property in many parts of our Fatherland.

I also recall that I was a member of the Constituent
Assembly 1977/78 that framed the 1979 Nigerian Presidential Constitution. Gen. Obasanjo was a) the
Head of State that convened this Assembly, b) that
intervened when it faced a crisis on the position of Sharia Law, and c) proclaimed this Constitution into law, after some arbitrary modifications at the purported
instance of the Supreme Military Council. Experience also commands me to affirm that Gen. Obasanjo has been characteristically timid and vacillating on matters
pertaining to Sharia, and that the attendant indecision and
disability have always occasioned avoidable general confusion and public distress.

Gen. Obasanjo would rather leave the matter of legal
determinations on crucial matters of urgent national interest to individuals or private concerns, knowing fully well that the distance between a State High Court or
Federal High Court and the Supreme Court is long, tedious
and expensive. When, for example, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, attempted to get some legal clarifications on Sharia Law, his suit was dismissed on ground of a lack of locus standi, whereas such dismissal cannot be pronounced
had the same matter been taken up, at Supreme Court level, by the Attorney General of the Federation.

Significantly, President Obasanjo has been callously
irresponsive to Supreme Court determinations, whenever his Government sought it pronounced relevant decisions. Regarding the littoral states and the application of
the derivation principle, he has either denied the littoral States of a lot of money or has been unduly late in payments. He also refused to sign the dichotomy bill passed by the National Assembly. Rather, he substituted same
with fuzzy (amendment) proposals that flout the due
legislative process and the legitimate aspirations of the good people of Nigeria from the Delta region. All these have fueled the temper and tempo of restlessness, alienation and Angst in the Niger Delta region.

In the light of the foregoing, it is clearly preposterous and
wicked for anyone, including Obasanjo, to resort to ad hominem (name calling) and ad baculum (appeal to fear) on matters of public interest. To tell the people of Nigeria in Bayelsa that they should not ask for their rights, since they
should be grateful to have been liberated from BiAfra and their killing by Ndigbo is a naked depiction of the falsity of the ad baculum variant.

Similar to such perversion is his claim that Gen. Buhari
would jail them if they vote for him. And to call Gen. Buhari a 'religious bigot' by ascribing to him what he NEVER said, i.e., that Moslems should not vote for non-Moslems
is a horrible appeal to the ad hominem fallacy.
In point of truth, it is irreligious to abuse or misuse religion,
and in point of fact, bigotry is the application of falsehood to perpetrate falsehood. A purported 'God-fearing man', more so, a man who claims to be a 'born-again Christian' must desist from inflammation of Christian sentiments
and from tinkering on the tinderbox of defamation on
grounds of a presumptive 'religious' political campaign. For such is the opium that can make religion burn.

Surely, it is irreligious to misuse religion to the ends of
cheap political gains. Looking again at the Constitution, nobody, including Gen. Buhari, will be in the position to jail people by whim in that constitutional and democratic
government is NOT military. We know that both Generals
Buhari and Obasanjo were Heads of Military Governments that were NOT democratic. Therefore the claims of any General or Head of State being more democratic than the other under military dictatorships is sham. We also know that Gen.

Buhari has pledged to stand by and on the Constitution, now and when elected as President of Nigeria. There is no reason to doubt his sincerity and resolve, any less than Obasanjo's. Plainly speaking, those in glass houses should NOT throw stones.

Now, we have also adduced sufficient evidence that prove
that Buhari or any other person, high or low, can Islamize or Christianize the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by sheer political fiat or religious zealotry. Nor will his Vice Presidential running mate, who is a Christian, go along with
any Islamization plot, in the hypothetical event of such
absurdity. Similarly, I hold it to be self-evident that Gen. Obasanjo, for all his highly advertised Sunday church services in his Aso Rock chapel, and all his Baptist
admonitions elsewhere, cannot Christianize Nigeria. Even if
and when he tries it, we will definitely rise to stop him.
Put together, let us all comply with the plea of Islamic and
Christian clerics as well as nationalists and patriots for all round religious tolerance. Religion, being a matter of individual choice and faith, must be left where it is, such that our clerics can take care of our souls and religious persuasions, while elected civilians take care of the
businesses of governance. In these connections, the holier than thou and I know it all postures should be consigned to the bonfires of perdition or the dustbins of cant.

In the mighty name of God, let us resolve NOT to overheat the system any further and to make love rather than war.


Okadigbo, Vice Presidential Candidate of the ANPP
April 2003 National Election and former Senate President

Anything can happen in this country

feldido:
Anything can happen in this country

stop this fallacy...

No one can turn Nigeria into a single religious state

I don't see this as an issue at all, to me all those saying Buhari will islamize Nigeria are saying that out of ignorance or bigotry because i don't see how that is possible at all.

oludare007:
stop this fallacy...

No one can turn Nigeria into a single religious state

But the third term bill was almost signed into law.
In Nigeria anything can happen, it's all about interest.
Everybody de fight for him bele

If the following did nt islamize Nigeria then buhari cannot do it.
1. murtala Muhammed as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria..
2. Buhari as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria.
3. Babangida as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria.
4. Abacha as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria.
5. Abdusalami Abubakar as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria.
.
Then it is Buhari who does nt have maximum power as a democratic president that will islamize Nigeria.

feldido:


But the third term bill was almost signed into law.
In Nigeria anything can happen, it's all about interest.
Everybody de fight for him bele

thats a common language- money.

Religion is a different and sensitive aspect.

Many people will die protecting it!

Its a known fact.

Does the Constitution allow for someone to be jailed without any substantial proof of crime? But it is happening, right?

It's happening right this moment! Op, thanks for the insightful submission

oludare007:
thats a common language- money.

Religion is a different and sensitive aspect.

Many people will die protecting it!

It all depends on your Integrety, money answers all things. Many sell their souls for money.

eaglejay13:
Does the Constitution allow for someone to be jailed without any substantial proof of crime? But it is happening, right?

example

feldido:



It all depends on your Integrety, money answers all things. Many sell their souls for money.

agreed. But not the fanatics

oludare007:
agreed. But not the fanatics

What happens when the decision makers lacks integrity and doesn't care about the consequences?

I'm Igbo and a Christian...

Anyone who thinks Christians can be forced into Islamic religion in Nigerai must be on Karu weed.

How e wan carry happen?

Religious propaganda.. We should all know Nigerians value and worship their religion more than God and are ready to die protecting it even tho we are not following God's path................

I Don't think any religion is bad (Christian,Islam,Eckanker, Grail Message) We only have bad people who can instigate the masses through religion for their political and financial relevance...

Afterall, Almost all Senators/Governors in SouthEast are Knights in the Catholic Church and they still go ahead with plundering/Pillaging/Looting our common wealth. Even the northern Muslim leaders worship in the front row of the mosque on Fridays and they still go ahead looting the masses treasury..

Was it not Atiku son who married a white Christian lady?

Religious Emancipation is what we all need. That's why I worship God in heaven and not the Catholic faith...

Byeeeee ....Holy Trinity Maitama loading make I go hunt Rich men daughters too..(Indirect way to get a share of our treasury)

SUPERPACK:
If the following did nt islamize Nigeria then buhari cannot do it.
1. murtala Muhammed as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria..
2. Buhari as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria.
3. Babangida as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria.
4. Abacha as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria.
5. Abdusalami Abubakar as a dictator did nt islamize nigeria.
.
Then it is Buhari who does nt have maximum power as a democratic president that will islamize Nigeria.

Indeed no one can make Nigeria one religion

Mynd44 and Lalasticlala food is ready

Nobody/group can make a single religion the sole religion of Nigeria because the country is evenly distributed equally by Christians & Muslims, that is if the 2% to 3% that practice other religions are left out of the equation.

Let me say that a tribal war is easy to be fought, won or lost, but a war based on religion is a war that will destroy everything and could lead to over 10million deaths because it will be a war of attrition, where those involved are trying to outdo each other in terms of killing spree and destruction.

Futhermore, I will say that, such war have the tendency to easily spread outside the borders of Nigeria, and it will lead to the deaths of several religious leaders of both warring parties.

I will say; God forbid that such happen as it will last more than the present Syrian War and it will be more deadly.

Finally, let me say God forbid that any anyone try such, as it's like hitting the sensitive part of a nuclear bomb with a 12kg sledgehammer.

SUPERPACK:
example

Don't make me swear for u if u say example again. Many people are in jail without being convicted by any court which u know but here u are trying to deny it like it doesn't happen because ur blood sucking Islam has been called out for trying to be forced down our throat.

Shame on u for trying to deny dat people are being jailed in this country without seeing the walls of the court room.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge

SUPERPACK:
example

Are you ignorant or it's just convenient for you to feign ignorance?

LMFashions:


Don't make me swear for u if u say example again. Many people are in jail without being convicted by any court which u know but here u are trying to deny it like it doesn't happen because ur blood sucking Islam has been called out for trying to be forced down our throat.

Shame on u for trying to deny dat people are being jailed in this country without seeing the walls of the court room.

you hypocrisy is on another level, throughout the 17 years of democracy did christians nt rule for 14 years, did they nt jail people unjustly, the Jonathan you are killing urself for is he a muslim, what of those people that he jailed without proper trial. can u point out one person that buhari has jailed without trial, your Hypocrisy is raised to power 100. Thank you for waking up May last year.
.
For your information am a christian bt nt a religious bigot like others.

eaglejay13:


Are you ignorant or it's just convenient for you to feign ignorance?

There is nothing new in Nigeria. Everything u see happening nw has been happening since 1960. Is buhari the president since 1999.

SUPERPACK:

you hypocrisy is on another level, throughout the 17 years of democracy did christians nt rule for 14 years, did they nt jail people unjustly, the Jonathan you are killing urself for is he a muslim, what of those people that he jailed without proper trial. can u point out one person that buhari has jailed without trial, your Hypocrisy is raised to power 100. Thank you for waking up May last year.
.
For your information am a christian bt nt a religious bigot like others.

Bros, stop embarrassing yourself by asking how many people Buhari jailed without trial. Please mention the people Jonathan jailed without trial

SUPERPACK:

There is nothing new in Nigeria. Everything u see happening nw has been happening since 1960. Is buhari the president since 1999.

It's always a problem when someone that doesn't know anything thinks he knows a lot. Mention civilian governments that jailed people without trial from 1960 until now.

SUPERPACK:

you hypocrisy is on another level, throughout the 17 years of democracy did christians nt rule for 14 years, did they nt jail people unjustly, the Jonathan you are killing urself for is he a muslim, what of those people that he jailed without proper trial. can u point out one person that buhari has jailed without trial, your Hypocrisy is raised to power 100. Thank you for waking up May last year.
.
For your information am a christian bt nt a religious bigot like others.

Blah blah blah blah

Look at the bright side, if they try to, then we know that is definitely war, we can finally kick the northerners out our country and begin to actually grow. So let them try, it will justify our actions of kicking them out finally. Because now we can't. If they do then we can. So it is actually in our interest that they try.

eaglejay13:


It's always a problem when someone that doesn't know anything thinks he knows a lot. Mention civilian governments that jailed people without trial from 1960 until now.

mention one person buhari has jailed. Mr know all

eaglejay13:


Bros, stop embarrassing yourself by asking how many people Buhari jailed without trial. Please mention the people Jonathan jailed without trial

Pls mention the people Buhari Jailed without trial

SUPERPACK:
Pls mention the people Buhari Jailed without trial

Ask am.

SUPERPACK:
mention one person buhari has jailed. Mr know all

Please why is Kanu still in prison after court has asked for his release?