Go to the online site of the Nigerian Constitution.

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/ng/ng014en.pdf

enter CTRL + F when the pdf document has opened on your browser.

Now type "Church" into the search field.

This is what you will get:

www.nairaland.com/attachments/5568503_capture4_pngc0bc12fd74248cfcd17c48e31f48f29c

zero mentions.

Now lets try Islam

www.nairaland.com/attachments/5568459_capture1_png185bf71b8f9736926263e88ef0fd1e8b

we have 27 search returns!

Now lets try Christian

www.nairaland.com/attachments/5568458_capture_png78f16eee552a85331b9f4f38cd4a8a5f

zero mentions.

Now lets try Sharia

www.nairaland.com/attachments/5568460_capture2_pngfdb798da0d21a76197f159a35c1fcd40


66 search returns for the word "sharia"

Calm down. This is just because of the existence of the Sharia law in the Northern states, so you should obviously expect to find Islamic words under the sections of the Constitution that contain those laws.

Strawman:


Calm down. This is just because of the existence of the Sharia law in the Northern states, so you should obviously expect to find Islamic words under the sections of the Constitution that contain those laws.

And we Christians are second class and third class citizens, so the laws in our states do not the word church or Christian in them, SMH for you people, you want one Nigeria but a one nigeria that you people will lord it over others. One Nigeria my @ss

...Nigeria is just a shame!..what a crying shame indeed!

Strawman:


Calm down. This is just because of the existence of the Sharia law in the Northern states, so you should obviously expect to find Islamic words under the sections of the Constitution that contain those laws.

This is what you muslims hope to push on western countries with your sharia agitations.

Constitution talks about Sharia law in the north, hence it is understood why Islamic words would be in the constitution. But I don't think there is anything like Christian court, so I wonder why the absence of the word 'Church' or 'Christian' should be an issue to give any normal person sleepless nights. Maybe we should push a bill to have Episcopal or Ecclesiastical Courts since everything is now competition in Nigeria post 2015 elections.

obailala:
Constitution talks about Sharia law in the north, hence it is understood why Islamic words would be in the constitution. But I don't think there is anything like Christian court, so I wonder why the absence of the word 'Church' or 'Christian' should be an issue to give any normal person sleepless nights. Maybe we should push a bill to have Episcopal or Ecclesiastical Courts since everything is now competition in Nigeria post 2015 elections.

The Richardson constitution (which was secular in nature) was only applicable in the south (before independence) and was later adopted as the supreme law under the federal govt.

It was agitation by radical Islamist student movements in the north that forced that coward Obasanjo to include sharia law into our constitution.

Long before independence the northern region had sharia law as its constitution which the British rightly omitted from the Richardson constitution.

For most parts of the civil war up till 1979, the country was governed by military decrees and penal system.

obailala:
Constitution talks about Sharia law in the north, hence it is understood why Islamic words would be in the constitution. But I don't think there is anything like Christian court, so I wonder why the absence of the word 'Church' or 'Christian' should be an issue to give any normal person sleepless nights. Maybe we should push a bill to have Episcopal or Ecclesiastical Courts since everything is now competition in Nigeria post 2015 elections.

The Sharia issue is as old as Islam itself in Nigeria. It was the aim of Usman dan Fodio to implement it in the northern emirates in order to reform what was perceived as the lax practice of Islam among the rulers.

Matthew Kukah supported this view when he wrote: “The basis of the Jihad of Usman dan Fodio was the establishment of an Islam State based on the Sharia” (Kukah: Religion, Politics and Power…p115).

While the Constituent Assembly was debating the issue, Muslims outside sought to enforce their argument by engaging in threats and riots to support the idea that if the Sharia was not accepted they were going to make the country ungovernable. (no be today!)

The Muslim Students Society (MSS) for example demonstrated at Ahmadu Bello University, pleading with the Assembly men to “stop opposition to Sharia or take full responsibility for putting the entire nation in chaos”.

(I can bet my neck that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was an active member of this group when he was a student at ABU)

In April 1979, protesters took to the streets in Zaria and Kaduna with such banners as: No Sharia, No Peace, No Sharia, No Constitution, No Sharia, No Muslim, No Nigeria, etc. (see Sylvanus Udoidem, “Religion in the Political Life of Nigeria, in F. U. Okafor Ed. p162).

From what has been said so far about the Sharia issue, two conclusions could be reached namely:

(1) That the Sharia debate has both religious and political implications. On the religious grounds, it sought for the establishment of an Islam state, where an ideal Islamic religion could be practiced. On political grounds, the defenders and the opposers used the debate to gain a political following either as the defenders of Islam or the protectors of Christianity from Islam domination.


(2) That the Sharia issue is major source of conflict in the Nigerian body polity, is incontestible. It was this Sharia debated that set the stage for the prevalent religio-political conditions that existed at the times that Alhaji Shehu Shagari became the president during the Second Republic (1979-1983).

Zoo

AntiMahdi:


The Richardson constitution (which was secular in nature) was only applicable in the south (before independence) and was later adopted as the supreme law under the federal govt.

It was agitation by radical Islamist student movements in the north that forced that coward Obasanjo to include sharia law into our constitution.

Long before independence the northern region had sharia law as its constitution which the British rightly omitted from the Richardson constitution.

For most parts of the civil war up till 1979, the country was governed by military decrees and penal system.

While I dont support the idea of any religious thing being included in the constitution of a multi-religious country, I still dont see the essence of this thread. You basically seem to be complaining that the word Islam and Sharia are mentioned in the Nigerian constitution, but that Christianity or the word 'church' isnt in the constitution. My question is, must everything be seen as competition?... How does it make it better if the word 'Church' or 'Christian' is included in the constitution?

CROWNWEALTH019:

That must be that face of your father right?

obailala:
That must be that face of your father right?

Myndd44

CROWNWEALTH019:

Myndd44

...and what could he be calling the MODs for?... In an unsolicited move, you just randomly posted the picture of a man. If he isn't yourself, or your father or your brother, I wonder what sane person would just randomly send the picture of a man to someone else. Or do you need some psychological evaluation?

I fit slap any Christian way see this kind thing still dey shout 1 nigga area

obailala:
...and what could he be calling the MODs for?... In an unsolicited move, you just randomly posted the picture of a man. If he isn't yourself, or your father or your brother, I wonder what sane person would just randomly send the picture of a man to someone else. Or do you need some psychological evaluation?

Stay off my mention

obailala:
While I dont support the idea of any religious thing being included in the constitution of a multi-religious country, I still dont see the essence of this thread. You basically seem to be complaining that the word Islam and Sharia are mentioned in the Nigerian constitution, but that Christianity or the word 'church' isnt in the constitution. My question is, must everything be seen as competition?... How does it make it better if the word 'Church' or 'Christian' is included in the constitution?

The issue is that on one hand you claim Nigeria is secular but the same constitution has recommendations for sharia administration.

Is that not a contradiction?

obailala:
Constitution talks about Sharia law in the north, hence it is understood why Islamic words would be in the constitution. But I don't think there is anything like Christian court, so I wonder why the absence of the word 'Church' or 'Christian' should be an issue to give any normal person sleepless nights. Maybe we should push a bill to have Episcopal or Ecclesiastical Courts since everything is now competition in Nigeria post 2015 elections.

I won't like to involve myself in any religious arguments now, but it's not about the mentioning of the words that's giving people headaches, it's the heavy implications they carry that matters. Implications that bind on you even as a Christian or whatever faith.

Christians shud nw adopt d less talk and more action approach. ..including dt of......... and stamp their authority on d desert even if it requires.......

CROWNWEALTH019:

Stay off my mention

I would never cross paths with someone who I know represents 'irrelevance' in my affairs. Last time I checked, it was some jobless folk bearing your name that jumped into my mention uninvited, posting the pic of a man who probably looks like his father.

SnowJay92:


I won't like to involve myself in any religious arguments now, but it's not about the mentioning of the words that's giving people headaches, it's the heavy implications they carry that matters. Implications that bind on you even as a Christian or whatever faith.

AntiMahdi:


The issue is that on one hand you claim Nigeria is secular but the same constitution has recommendations for sharia administration.

Is that not a contradiction?

I agree with you both, we should truly spend our time worrying about what religious words like 'Sharia' and 'Islam' are doing in the constitution of a country which should be secular. I think we should press on it until every such word and law is removed from the constitution.

obailala:
I agree with you both, we should truly spend our time worrying about what religious words like 'Sharia' and 'Islam' are doing in the constitution of a country which should be secular. I think we should press on it until every such word and law is removed from the constitution.

Except they won't, those words are not leaving the Constitution nor the heavy implications they carry reducing it's grip on the country any time soon. I saw an NYSC corper last week wearing a vest, do you know the inscription on it? "SERVING ISLAM THROUGH THE NATION" boldly WRITTEN! I wanted to create a thread about it but I backed down so I won't be misunderstood. Those words you talk about lightly mean a lot to the people who put them there, to them it holds meaning, an interest they hold above whatever national aspirations you have. That's what I call fatal conflict of interest, that is what Nigeria is.

SnowJay92:


Except they won't, those words are not leaving the Constitution nor the heavy implications they carry reducing it's grip on the country any time soon. I saw an NYSC corper last week wearing a vest, do you know the inscription on it? "SERVING ISLAM THROUGH THE NATION" boldly WRITTEN! I wanted to create a thread about it but I backed down so I won't be misunderstood. Those words you talk about lightly mean a lot to the people who put them there, to them it holds meaning, an interest they hold above whatever national aspirations you have. That's what I call fatal conflict of interest, that is what Nigeria is.

So what exactly is your suggestion as I can see this religion of others makes you very uncomfortable?... Should we fight to remove it from the constitution or should we fight to also include sone Christian things in the document for equality?

obailala:
So what exactly is your suggestion as I can see this religion of others makes you very uncomfortable?... Should we fight to remove it from the constitution or should we fight to also include sone Christian things in the document for equality?

I wish to have a country where the rule of law reigns supreme above any religious or ethnic bias. But that's like unattainable in this country. You see why I hate talking about issues such as this, you're already misunderstanding me, how could you say I'm uncomfortable with another's religion because I talked about how it affected our collective development as a nation.

Bump