A human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has appealed to the Federal Government of Nigeria (FG) to fully integrate Shari’ah courts into the country’s judicial system.
The Muslim rights advocacy group contended that the country’s judicial system as currently operated is lopsided because Shari’ah is denied in certain parts of the country whereas common law courts are available all over the country.
The group therefore called on the Federal Government to treat Shari’ah courts like federal courts by establishing Shariah courts directly in all states of the federation, the same way federal high courts were established in them.
Making this appeal on Friday, 1 August, 2025, was the Executive Director of the Islamic human rights advocacy group, Ishaq Akintola, a professor.
He said:
“The issue of Shari’ah continues to stir concern among Muslim communities. One of the questions recently raised is the fact that the Federal Government still went ahead to establish federal high courts in all states despite their existence at state level. It is also well known that the state and federal high courts exist in all states whereas Shari’ah only exists in the North. There is no single Shari’ah court anywhere in the South.
“This implies that although Nigerian Muslims accommodate and tolerate common law courts which originated from Christianity, Nigerian Christians refuse to accommodate or tolerate Shari’ah courts. This amounts to denial of access to justice for Muslims while Christians enjoy full access to their own justice system.
“The onus is therefore on FG to ensure that Muslims are not shortchanged by ensuring that the judicial system is neither selective nor exclusive. The current system whereby all parts of the country accept one judicial system (common law courts) while another system (Shari’ah) is only allowed to operate in only one part of the country is discriminatory, unfair, unjust and therefore unacceptable.
“It shows clearly that full integration of Muslims and their way of life is still lacking in our society whereas Christian way of life has been allowed to dominate the Nigerian ecosystem.
“The question that may arise from this conversation is ‘What happens if Nigerian Muslims also insist on parity? What happens if they start to set conditions for them to accept any legal system other than their own? What happens if they make acceptance of Shari’ah courts in the South a condition for accepting Christian common law courts in the North and in predominantly Muslim communities?
“MURIC advises FG not to wait until Nigerian Muslims start asking those legitimate questions before integrating Shari’ah courts into the Nigerian judicial system. Of course they are legitimate questions.
“They are legitimate questions because there is no democracy without participation, without inclusiveness. The Nigerian constitution recognizes the tripartite nature of our judicial system: Christian common law, Shari’ah and customary law. Both Christian common law and customary law are already prominently featured all over the country but Shari’ah is restricted to the North thereby robbing Southern Muslims chances of participating in the nation’s judicial exercise.
“It amounts to judicial apartheid against millions of Muslims in the South as well as imposition of Christian law on Northern Muslims. It may be argued that Northern Muslims have an alternative in the existing Shari’ah courts in their region but so could Southern Christians have an alternative in the existing Christian common law courts in their region but they are so intolerant that they refuse to allow Shari’ah courts in their region.
“But what happens if Northern Muslims now elect to be as difficult as Southern Christians? We all know that life goes on in the world because we all recognize the essence of the social rule which says ‘rub my back I rub your back’. What if Northern Muslims play the card ‘if you refuse to rub my back I will stop rubbing your back too’?
“Christian law courts in the North will become empty the day the region refuses to pay judges in the court and transfer court staff, registrar and clerks, to the Shari’ah courts.
“Afterall the Christian Common law courts in the North survive on taxes paid by Northern Muslims. Ironically, too, the same courts in the South are funded with tax paid by both Muslims and Christians in the South. The money is used to run the Christian courts only even though Muslims also pay whereas their own Shari’ah courts are not beneficiaries. Is that justice?
“Meanwhile state governors in the South have always ignored that section of the Constitution which stipulates the establishment of Shariah courts in all states ‘that desire it’ to mean where ‘the governor desires it’. They simply refuse to implement it despite constant outcries for it coming from Muslims in their states. The way out is for FG to take up that responsibility in the name of fairness, justice and equity by establishing Shari’ah Federal Courts.
“In as much as it is true that Nigeria runs a tripartite judicial system, as far as it is a reality that Southern Muslims also pay tax, if it is a fact that Section 275, 276 and 277 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria stipulates the establishment of Shari’ah courts in all states of the federation, the onus is on FG to treat Shari’ah courts as federal courts by establishing Shariah Federal Courts in all states.
